The Unwritten Line
by RavensGame
Summary: There are an infinite number of universes out there. In one of them, the Doctor may finally get his happy ending-if he's willing to fight for it. Because someone he didn't even know he needed is about to run into his life, and she's going to re-write every line of it. OFFICIALLY OFF HIATUS, NOW POSTING UNDER NEW PEN NAME!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, if you are reading this story and it sounds familiar...don't panic. I didn't steal it. Ffnet went no-fly on my old account and wouldn't allow me to post new work. I had to create a new one to post my Supernatural work, and I have started transferring my old work over to my new account so I just have the one.**

**This story has been on hiatus for over a year now, due to computer problems, I lost my notes, outlines, research, the whole thing. I finally had time to try and recreate my rather convoluted outline.**

**This story will post slowly, once every two weeks or so, and then I should be able to get some new chapters up. This is definitely a slap-an-alert-on-it story, though, since I have SPN work that has precedence currently.**

**So, this story is based on three major what-if's**

**1\. What if everything happened in Rose Tyler's life up to season two, but season four never happened. She starts trying to find a way into her origin universe,.**

**2\. Not happy playing the Vitex Heiress, she becomes a Torchwood Agent. She might then experience some of the darker aspects of the job seen on the Torchwood series.**

**3\. What if becoming Bad Wolf wrought physiological changes on her. (River Song is an excellent example).**

**So, those were my major what if's. Just to clarify, I am a hardcore Rose Tyler/Any Doctor shipper. I know readers hate when characters go by names that aren't canon, but my Rose has her reasons for using her alias. In this story, she will almost always use the name Gemma Thorn. This is the name she chose for herself, much the way the Doctor chose to be the Doctor.**

**Last but not least, this story takes place in a parallel universe not seen on any of the shows. Rose mentions traveling through multiple ones trying to find the Doctor, so I borrowed one for this story. Spelling changes, ect., are on purpose, as I am trying to illustrate that.**

**Stories have a habit of going where they grow.**

**Reviews are love.**

**As Always, **

**EverReader**

**Disclaimer: Not my sandbox.**

**The Unwritten Line – Chapter One**

**"A Rose By Any Other Name"**

**_ROSE: I've told you, don't salute. _**

**_CAPTAIN MAGAMBO: Well, if you're not going to tell us your name. _**

**_DONNA: What, you don't know either? _**

**_ROSE: I've crossed too many different realities. Trust me, the wrong word in the wrong place can change an entire causal nexus._**

**-DOCTOR WHO, SEASON FOUR, EPISODE 4.11 "TURN LEFT"**

**Prologue**

_She hit the ground running. _

_Towards him, of course. She was running towards him even as he faded from her. His kiss still burned on her lips, but she blinked the tears from her eyes. _

_This was not a time for weeping._

_"Watch us run...". He'd whispered in her ear, his skin already taking on a golden hue._

_"Am I ever gonna see **you** again?" She'd asked._

_He'd just grinned his devil-may-care grin._

_"You and I are everywhere, we're written across the stars." A half-whisper, just another half-answer._

_Their skin sparked where it touched, the way she had always felt it had, if she was honest with herself. There was something beautiful and incredibly heartbreaking about finally being able to see it, though._

_"That a no, then?" She'd said with a shaky laugh._

_"Never forget, Gemma Thorn. You and I will always be unfinished business."_

_She ran._

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

He fiddled with the final component of the explosive.

He'd double and then triple checked the building.

No one living was left inside.

Not anymore, at least. He'd been too late to save the electrician. Yet more blood on his hands. Was he kidding himself, even now? Could he really save a world when he couldn't save one man?

"Poor choice for a savior." He whispered to himself softly.

But who else did they have, those stupid apes, with their telly and their jobs and their parking garages.

Who else did they have, this infant planet, that was destined to become so much more if the universe would just _let_ it.

Just him.

From what he could tell, the plans of the Nesteine Consciousness were nearing completion. This shop would have been a key relay station, hence the small scale test this evening, much to the electricians misfortune.

He activated the timer. Two minutes and counting.

His brain screamed at him to run, but his legs refused to move. Some twisted part of him insisted on hesitating, watching the count down, tempting the fates and his seemingly endless supply of luck. Some day he would push it too far, and then he would get what was coming to hi-

"Oomph-" Someone crashed into him, his arms suddenly full of girl, his mouth full of dark blonde hair.

'Sorry, sorry!" She cried, "I sorta...slipped".

"On the roof?" He asked incredulously, staring at her with disbelieving eyes.

"On the roof!" She agreed tossing her hair over her shoulder as she grabbed his hand. "Run!"

And off they took, speeding across the tar and gravel of the rooftop as the seconds flew out behind them.

He could swear she was grinning as she clasped his hand, and he found his grip tightening on hers.

"Ladder?" She gasped without breaking stride, and now he could see the grin, the dare devil glint in her eyes matching the one he could feel in his own.

"No time!" His mind calculated instantly, knowing the charge was set to detonate in only a few precious seconds.

"Jump?" She said it the way someone else might suggest ordering a pizza, and his grin widened despite himself.

"Yup." He agreed, tightening his grip on her hand.

"Brilliant!" She called out in a voice that was laughter and defiance at the same time, head tilted back, long hair streaming behind her.

They rapidly approached the edge of the roof, the next building perhaps seven feet away, though a few feet lower, which should help.

He'd done crazier things, just not this week.

"One!" He called out, putting on a burst of speed, drawing his arm, and therefore the girl, closer to him as they neared the edge.

"Two!" She answered without hesitation.

"Three!" They cried out in unison as the night sky lit behind them, the energy wave from the initial blast adding momentum to their leap of faith, flinging them through space.

They hit the opposite roof with a rolling crash, the Doctor puling the girl into his arms in attempt to shield her from the worst of the fall, gravel spraying out everywhere, bits of brick and mortar raining down around them, a second explosion echoing in the night.

They finally came to a breathless stop, the Doctor on top, still attempting to shield the girl from debris still falling like broken stars.

Once he was able to see straight, he started to examine her face anxiously, looking for any outward sign of injury.

"All right,then?" He asked, noting with no small relief that she appeared fine.

She started laughing in reply.

He could only stare at her as he untangled his legs from hers, pulling her to her feet, still laughing.

"Nutters, you are." He said finally, shaking his head, a reluctant grin transforming his stern face.

"Says the man who was standing on a rooftop, staring at a bomb he had just set." She replied archly, brushing the dirt and gravel of her jeans.

"Right, well..." The Doctor looked everywhere but at her, finally settling on brushing off his own jeans and jumper. He could hear fire trucks in the distance.

"Better get a move on, then." The girl said, nodding in the direction of the oncoming sirens.

"Ladder's this way." He pushed past her, still unable to make eye contact, the echo of her laughter still ringing in his mind.

He swore he could hear her chuckling behind him.

They finally made it past the gathering crowds and commotion, stopping in an alley several blocks away.

"Right." He stated authoritatively, deciding it was obviously up to him to take charge of the situation...whatever it was.

"I'm the Doctor. And who are you?".

Her eyes widened. "Yes! Identification, just a mo..." She started digging in the small messenger sack she wore across her chest.

"Sorry, it's bigger on the inside." She said apologetically.

"Know the feeling." He smirked.

"Hmm, yes, I'm sure you do." She agreed distractedly.

"Ha!" She crowed victoriously as she fished a small brown wallet out of her bag. "Here we go." She flipped open the wallet to display the contents for the Doctor.

He read it in disbelief. "You're kidding, right? 'Defender of the Earth'? And what the hell is the "Authority of Bad Wolf" supposed to mean-wait a minute. Is this psychic paper? You're using psychic paper? On me?"

She peered at the paper, frowning. "Sorry, sounded better in my head. Tricky thing, psychic paper, let's have another go."

She closed her eyes, frowning in concentration as she shook the paper like it was a developing Polaroid.

"How 'bout that then?" She said, handing the wallet back to the Doctor.

He read it with raised brows. "This is supposed to be an improvement?" He asked drily, handing the wallet back to her.

Her eyes widened as she read it silently. "Well, that definitely sounded better in my head." She said to herself as she tucked the wallet back into her purse.

"Alright, enough with the games, tell me who you are!" The Doctor said sternly.

He whipped out the sonic and pointed it at her forehead, frowning as he read the display panel.

"Human?" He said in angry disbelief. He smacked it against his palm twice then re-aimed it at her forward.

"Course I'm human, that's a rude thing to say, I'm as human as they-Duck!" She said called as she shoved him out of the way.

"As a what-oh, Duck. I see what you did there.." The Doctor said as he watched the girl deliver a rather stunning roundhouse kick to the stray Auton that had wandered up behind them. The Auton's head flew across the alley, but it didn't seem to bother it much, as it then proceeded to catch the girl in a headlock.

"Little help?" She managed to gasp out, and the Doctor sprang into action.

Using his sonic, he eventually managed to separate the arm from the Auton, who finally seemed to realize the transponder signal had been cut several minutes ago. The Doctor was left holding the Auton's arm as the rest of the body slumped to the ground.

"Well, that was a bit rubbish, wasn't it. Two of us for one measly Auton. Really, it's like amateur night around here." She said, rubbing her throat. "Right then, I'm off. Care to point me in the direction of Peak District?"

Raising a brow, the doctor pointed to their left. The girl started off smartly, only pausing when the Doctor called out, "Still not gonna tell me who you are then, eh?"

Spinning around, she continued to walk backwards as she grinned at him. "Call me Gemma. Gemma Thorn."

"I'm the Doctor." He said, waiting for her inescapable question.

"Who else could you have possibly been?" She asked, grinning as she sauntered off.

The Doctor stared at her in surprise for a moment, before grinning.

"Lovely to meet you, Gemma-Gemma Thorn." The Doctor said softly, as he watched her walk away into the night. Shaking his head, he started off back to where he had parked the Tardis.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

She awoke the next morning to the most profound sense of unreality, as if she were still dreaming, or rather, dreaming of dreaming.

The apartment was beautiful.

Perfect really.

And not just picture perfect, but perfect for Gemma Thorn perfect.

She didn't actually recognize a single thing in it, but everything, from the art on the walls to the toiletries in the bathroom were exactly what she would have chosen. She even managed to locate and open the hidden weapons safe behind the artwork in the bedroom. The weapons were slightly unfamiliar, but like her sonic, worked on basic principals she had learned years ago.

For a moment she considered the small handgun, surely she had whatever passed for a conceal and carry permit in this country, but decided to take things a little slower. Replacing the picture on it's swing hinge, she studied the print for a moment.

If she didn't know any better, she'd swear it was a Van Gogh, it was clearly done in his style, but she didn't remember him ever doing anything with roses.

Shaking her her head, she headed for the kitchen. She'd been too bemused earlier to attempt breakfast, but surely she wouldn't burn down her own kitchen (on her first day) making tea right?

She was half-in one of the kitchen cupboards, searching for the tin of biscuits she was pretty certain she would have hid there, when she came across the tins of cat food.

"Cat food?" She said aloud in confusion. "I have a cat?"

She thought about it for a moment. "I have a cat."

She grinned, she loved cats. Even after New Earth, she loved them, though the Doctor never seemed to care for them to much after that.

But where was it? In the apartment?

Slowly she started walking room from room calling out "Here kitty-kitty, here kitty-kitty-kitty."

She found a cat bed in her bedroom that she hadn't noticed earlier, and a catnip mouse under the sofa in the living room, but no sign of the actual cat.

She stood in the living room, frowning. Either it was both extremely shy and extremely well hid, or it had gotten out somehow...

Suddenly, she snapped her fingers. "Course!" She said aloud. "Cat flap. It's always the cat flap."

She went to the front door, and sure enough, there was a cat flap. She crouched down on her hands and knees to peer through..."Here kitty-kitty-Doctor?"

She jerked back in shock. How had she not seen that one coming?

"Always the cat flap." She muttered.

She unlatched the front door. "Doctor, what are you doing here?"

"Me? What are you doing here?" He aimed his sonic at her forehead again.

"I live here!" She said indignantly, batting the sonic out of her face.

"Really?" He asked in surprise, glancing around.

She took a quick glance at the mail laying on the entry way table before replying "Yea. Absolutely."

He frowned at the display on his sonic. "Still Reading human. Most be broken again."

"Or...I'm human." She offered before turning to walk into her kitchen.

"Oy, where are you going now?" He hollered after her.

"I think this morning has just been upgraded to coffee." She called back in reply.

"Just don't break anything, yea?"

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The Doctor wandered into the living room, admiring the lively yet tasteful style.

It was definitely a place a person could live in. No museum-like feel here, though he noticed several interesting pieces of artwork on the walls that looked rather like originals, and he was more than a little certain the same could be said for the sword over the fireplace.

"She's got a sword." He said quietly, impressed despite himself. He took a couple of experimental swings with it before nearly slicing off his own leg. Hurriedly, he put the sword back in place.

Next he wandered over to her piano, idly plucking a few keys. "Do you play then?" He asked, raising his voice to be heard over the noise she was making in the kitchen.

Apparently she was making very loud coffee.

"Hmm, not yet. Always wanted to learn though." She replied.

"Good enough reason to buy a piano, suppose." He said to himself. Though the sheet music that was open would be more than a little difficult for a beginner.

"I helped write this piece." He said to himself, smiling.

Suddenly, he swung around, attempting to locate the source of the scurrying noise he heard from behind the sofa.

His quarry was at hand.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma frowned at the coffee maker, banging it once more on the top for good measure. Really, how difficult could making coffee be? The stupid machine had more buttons than the Tardis console.

"Have you got a cat?" She heard the Doctor call from the other room.

"Um, yeah, think so..." She replied distractedly. Maybe it was the red button...

"What's it look like?" He called.

"We-ll, four legs, most likely. Furry. You know, cat-like." No, definitely not the red button.

Damn. Computer genius zero-coffee maker-one. "How do you feel about tea, after all-"

_Crash_.

"Oh, bloody hell." She muttered.

She stalked into the living room, only to be met by sight of the Doctor rolling around on the floor, wrestling with last nigh'ts plastic arm amidst the remainder of her coffee table.

"I LIKED that table, you know. I've only had it a day."

"Little help." The Doctor wheezed.

Sighing, she reached down and grabbed her sonic out of her ankle holster. It took her a couple tries to find the correct setting but soon enough she had disabled to arm.

She stood there watching the Doctor as he lay spread eagle on her floor, panting. "One day." She repeated for emphasis.

"You...have...a sonic." He said finally as he caught his breath.

"Yes." She agreed, looking mournfully at her coffee table.

"In an ankle holster." He mutter, flopping down onto his back on the floor.

"Yes..." She repeated.

"YOU..have a sonic...in an ankle holster..." He stared at the ceiling.

"All of the above." She said, yanking him to his feet.

He stared down at her. "You, Gemma Thorn, are not possible."

She smiled wryly at him before turning to go back to the kitchen.

"I know. Doesn't it drive you mad?".

An hour later, she had finished her second cup of tea (stupid coffee maker) as she watched the Doctor disassemble and reassemble her sonic for probably the seventh time. She had born it with good grace, knowing the Doctor could never resist the pull of a shiny, well-made toy (and her sonic was very, very well made).

"What's the pink setting do?" He asked finally.

"Hmm? Oh, that's wood. Or should be, haven't needed to try it yet, not really sure why you'd need a sonic with a setting for wood..." She trailed off suddenly, a little unnerved by the look on his face.

His eyes had gone cold and hard and there was a slight twitch under one eye.

"Wood." He said stonily.

"Ye-es." She said hesitantly.

"It does wood."

"Uh-huh."

"Wood?"

"Yes, alright, yes, it has a setting for wood. And barbed wire, and brass, and cables and apparently living plastic. Sheesh." She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms defensively.

"No." He slammed her sonic down on the table. She winced, that there was the reason the Doctor could never have nice things...

"No." He repeated. "Enough is enough. I want to know who the hell you are! You scan human, but you have knowledge way beyond any human of this era and your reactions are _wrong_. In just the last twenty four hours I have seen you jump off an exploding building AND battle living plastics autons, _twice_! Any _normal_ human girl your age would be curled up crying in the corner behind her sofa like a fan girl after the second season finale of Sherlock and now, NOW you are pulling out a sonic screwdriver that you claim has a PINK setting that does wood, which I know for a fact is NOT POSSIBLE because, if, IF it were possible, _mine_ would have such a setting, but it doesn't, because it isn't, so tell me who the HELL YOU ARE."

He leaned forward. "And not only that, but during that little speech, I was speaking in English, German, Russian, and Manchurian. And you never even so much as blinked."

She swallowed, her own temper flaring. "And doesn't it get you, Time Lord, because when I started this sentence, I was speaking Zygon, and now I am speaking Martian. Now, now I am speaking Akhaten." She paused..."I could say it in Gallifreyan, too. But I won't."

He leaned forward. "You couldn't possibly. No one living knows Gallifreyan. No one but me. I am the last."

She hesitated. She could barely bring herself to speak it, but maybe he had to know, maybe this had to happen right now. Perhaps there was no other way.

In perfect Gallifreyan, she said "Your name, your true name, is hidden. You are called many things. Time Lord. Caretaker. The Lonely God. The mad man with a blue box. Child of Gallifrey. On the old Dalek home world, before it was destroyed in the time war, you were called the Oncoming Storm. The Dark Legend. But mostly, usually, just "The Doctor." You travel through space and time in a magic box, called the Tardis. A world all it's own with a set of doors Genghis Khan couldn't get through. You're the only Survivor of the Time War, and it haunts you. And now you save others, trying so hard to earn your second chance. I know things, Doctor. Secrets that can't be told, not ever. In this we all alike. I am not what you are, but I am also not what you think."

He stared at her, then slowly raised his sonic directly at her. "Who. Are. You."

She pushed away the table suddenly, the fight leaving her. She closed her eyes, rubbing her forehead.

She shouldn't have done that.

She sighed. "I knew meeting you would be hard, but I didn't think it would be this hard. I am sorry, Doctor. Truly."

She walked out to stand on her balcony, admiring the view.

She felt, more than heard the Doctor come to stand behind her.

"I am not your enemy, Doctor. I am human, or, at least, more human than anything else." She paused. "Something...happened, a very long time ago to make me different. Something...changed me. Better or worse, I don't know. But I am...different."

"What do you mean, something happened?" He asked, frowning.

"I won't talk about it. It's too dangerous. I know enough to know that we create our reality around us, all the time, and words are powerful weapons."

"If you tell me, maybe I can help?" He offered cautiously.

She smiled sadly. "It's a bit too late for that, I'm afraid. It's permanent."

"But how do you know about all of the aliens and such?" He persisted.

She frowned in thought for a moment. "I...used to travel, a bit. With this friend...of mine. He and I were, we were... together...But." She sighed. "I lost him."

"Lost him? Lost him how?" The Doctor asked. "Who was he?".

"I'm sorry, I really, I just...I can't. It's too dangerous. For everyone. For Me". She turned back out to the view.

Walking up he grabbed her arm, suspicious alarms ringing in his head. "Just his name, Gemma, who was he?" She shook her head, adamant.

"Let me help you!" He lowered his face to hers, disliking the wounded look in her eyes.

She wrenched her arm out of his. "You can't, OK? You can't, not ever. Not even you, the mighty Doctor. I have to see this through, all of it. That"s how this works."

"See what through?" He asked, started to get frustrated.

"This, all of this. I have a job to do. I'm gonna do it." She said with finality.

"I'll find out eventually." He said stubbornly. "May as well tell me what I want to know. Save yourself trouble."

She faced him, eyes blazing. "Why?" She asked suddenly.

"Why?" He repeated in confusion.

"Yes, Doctor. Why? Why would the man with so many secrets need mine too? And why would he even care?"

She glared at him. "You, you stand there, the last of your people, Time Lord victorious. You've seen the rise and fall of galaxies and empires and supernovas."

She started stalking back and forth across the balcony, waving her hands for emphasis. ""You, with your time machine that can go anywhere and everywhere. Why would you care? You and me, we're standing here, the two of us, and I know, in my mind, I know the earth is revolving, turning in circles at thousands of feet per second, and this whole planet, we're hurtling around the sun at thousands of miles per hour, I know all that, in my mind, I _know_ it."

She stopped pacing and turned to face him. "But you, you can _feel_ it, can't you? The turn of the earth. You and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little planet, a heartbeat from destruction. You feel it. You've watched planets be born, and you've watched them die. So why would you even care, about me or any of us, we are like fireflies, or sand castles or snowflakes.'

She dashed angry tears from her eyes. "We are all just GHOSTS to you, Doctor. We are all already gone, and we just don't have the good grace to realize it."

She paused, chest heaving as the Doctor stared at her speechless. Squaring her shoulders, she marched to the front door and opened it, gesturing him out with her hand.

"Find another ghost story, Doctor."

He paused as he walked out the door. "This isn't finished."

"It never will be." She replied, closing the door in his face.

Twenty minutes later, she sat on her sofa, still attempting to calm herself down. She was afraid she had ruined everything, had handled all of it as badly as possible. This was one of the most important days of her life, and she just knew she had royally screwed it up.

Suddenly, she heard the jangle of keys in her door. Whipping forward, she faced the entry way, sonic at the ready.

The door banged open, a man backing in, arms full of grocery bags, cursing as he hit his knee on the entry way table.

She dropped the hand holding the sonic. She knew that voice. "Hello?" She said cautiously.

The man started, dropping sacks and groceries everywhere as he himself whipped around, his own small firearm in his hand.

He started when he saw her. "Gemma? Dammit, I'm off by a day." Scowling, he scratched his head. "Or you're a day early. Bet that's what it was. Stupid Doctor."

She stayed where she was. "Loving the gun pointed at me." She offered in what she hoped was a casual voice.

"What, oh sorry, sorry. But you've been gone for over a month and some of us were getting a little jumpy."

"Right. Of course." She agreed. "Perfectly understandable...uh...Mickey?" She threw the name out there, gauging his expression. "I mean, Ricky. Of Course. Ricky."

He stared at her warily. "Gem, you know I haven't used that name since I was a kid. It's RJ. RJ Smith. What-" Suddenly he snapped his fingers.

"Oh, wow. _Oh wow_. You, you warned me about this. Said one day we were gonna get all out of order, and I was gonna have to help you out. Holy crap, you really did it, didn't you? You've traveled back in time and you've never met me?" He paused. "That is so weird."

"I know you-sort of." She paused. "But yeah. I have pretty much zero idea what is going on right now." She paused again "Did you come by to bring my groceries"

He nodded. "Yeah, yeah. You gave me an estimated return date, but apparently I got it a bit wrong, sorry. Oh, and I brought your furry little nightmare back, too."

She stared at him. "My what?" She asked.

"You know, your demon cat who only loves you."

"I have a cat." She remembered aloud.

"Yeah, he's just in his carrier out in the hall."

He fetched in the carrier, opening the door cautiously. "And boy has he missed you."

The ginger tabby shot out of the carrier at the approximate speed of light, springing into the surprised girl's arms.

"Oh, look at you, your a beauty-" She glanced down at the cat's id tag.

"Alonzo." She read aloud. Of course.

That was when she started to cry.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Two hours later they sat at a table at a restaurant called "Marlee's" having just finished a rather remarkably good pizza, as RJ finished bringing her up to speed on some of the vital facts of Gemma Thorn's life.

She shook her head. "I did that? Really? All that, that was me? You're serious."

RJ chuckled. "Yup, shoulda seen his face. It was positively purple. Never seen him so angry. It was gorgeous."

She sighed. "And...Bad Wolf?" She asked.

"All in order." He replied. "Been keeping an eye on all your special projects. Nothing ready for your personal touch just yet, from what I can tell, but I've been updating all the files regularly. Passwords all set to your standard one, all of them, from bank accounts to employee files to email. You can review it all yourself once you've got your footing."

"RYCBAR123" She asked.

"That'd be the one." RJ agreed. He glanced down at his beeping phone. "Bit noisy in here, lemme step out and take this. Just be a mo..." He glanced at her, grinning. "Least now we all understand why you never let us use blue tooth."

She watched him walk out of the restaurant, breathing a deep sigh of relief. At least she had left herself with some allies. RJ appeared to be her right hand man, so to speak. Talk about irony.

"So." RJ smiled as he sat back down. "Tell me about the Doctor." He said.

She sighed. "Excuse me." She stopped a passing waiter. "We're going to need two caramel-banana milkshakes and a bottle of champagne. Nothing too fancy, the news isn't that great." She said.

She turned back to RJ. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

"The Doctor. How exactly did you meet him? At the shop, am I right." He asked.

She sighed, twirling her straw around the ice in her water glass. "You could say that, I guess. Ages ago, of course. He's always been fond of those little shops..."

"So what do you think he's planning then?" RJ asked.

She looked at him, taken aback. "The Doctor?" She asked.

"Yes. The Doctor." RJ agreed.

She grinned lazily. "I doubt he has one, not really." She replied. "That's what makes him so dangerous. He hardly ever has a plan, so his enemies really haven't the faintest chance of stopping him." She paused, lowering her voice.

"But the Doctor isn't really the biggest danger." She said conspiratorially.

"Then who is?" RJ asked.

She leaned forward. "**I am**, and if I find out that you've hurt a single hair on the real RJ's head, I swear I will turn you into a garbage bag and literally take out the trash with you."

"Two Caramel-banana milkshakes and one bottle of cheap champagne." The man placed her order on the table.

She smiled at the doctor as she picked up the bottle of champagne, giving it a healthy shake. "That one's for you." She nodded at the second milkshake as she aimed the bottle at the Auton's head.

"This one's yours, love." She shot the cork directly into the Auton's eye even as the Doctor replied "Caramel-Banana? Not so sure about that."

She jogged over to the fire alarm and smashed it with her elbow as the Doctor wrestled the Auton's head from it's body.

"Really, Mr. Smith, you should have a little bit of faith." She grabbed his milkshake for him as they ran down the service hall and out the back door. She held the door propped shut with her shoulder as the Doctor used his sonic to weld it.

He took a sip of the milkshake, a thoughtful look on his face. Suddenly he grinned. "That's fantastic." He said, grinning hugely at her. She grinned in return.

"So, fight over then?" He asked.

"I have decided to be-a-grown up-and-let-it-go-" The final impact from the other side of the door sent her flying into the Doctor's arms. She looked back at the rapidly disintegrating door.

"So-Nestene Consciousness?" She guessed.

"Nesteine Consciousness" He corrected. "You've a bit of a Northern accent, sometimes, anyone ever tell you that?" She grinned at him wryly.

"The translation technology in my head didn't all come from around here. Still think it's weird you lot call chips fries." She added, ducking as a piece of door flew past her head. "Not to mention a lot of places do have a north."

Suddenly, the Auton forced it's way through the door.

"Tell me you've got anti-plastic?" She cried as they ran down the alley toward the Tardis.

She slowed, taking a deep breath as they neared the Tardis.

"This is my ship, the time machine you mentioned earlier." The Doctor offered.

"It's called the Tardis. It stands for-"

"Time and Relative Dimension in Space." She finished for him. "So I've heard."

He frowned at her. "I'm a time traveler..." He started hesitantly. "I don't always meet people in the right order." He finished, watching for her response.

"I imagine that must be a very common problem among time travelers." She said as she pushed the Tardis's doors open.

"Could have sworn I locked that." The Doctor muttered to himself as he followed her in.

He turned to face her, taking in her semi-shell shocked face.

"Bit of a culture shock." He offered.

She swallowed. "Just take a bit of getting used to."

They could here the Auton banging on the doors outside. She nodded at the head.

"Better get that hooked up, see if we can trace the signal. They won't keep RJ alive for long." She said.

"So...that boy, DJ, he someone special? Like you, I mean." The Doctor finished lamely as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Someone once told me they'd never met a person who wasn't special" She replied.

Seeing the look on his face, she took pity on him and relented.

"No, RJ is just a very good friend. And colleague. We...work together, you might say."

"Oh really, just another consulting hero?" The Doctor replied flippantly as he took another long pull of his shake.

"This really is fantastic. Caramel-banana. How on earth did you ever come by this idea?" He asked her.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I told you, I know secrets that must never be revealed".

Suddenly, he cursed. "Damn it, they cut the signal!"

She felt a jolt as the Tardis landed. "This was as close as I could get." He added as they walked out the door.

"The transponder must be huge, it would have to be, but where in a city this size would they hide it?" He muttered to himself.

"It must be invisible." He deduced aloud, turning to face her as he grinned triumphantly.

"We'll have to-Oy, NOW where are you wandering off to?" He shouted at her back as she walked down the pier.

Without bothering to reply she pointed at the London Eye.

"What's that got to- Oh. OH!" He ran to catch up.

"You're good. You're really good. Why haven't we met before?" He asked her.

She quirked an eyebrow at him. He swallowed.

"Right. World ending. Focusing."

She snorted as she leaned over the wall. "Look, down there." She pointed to the semi-underground utility access. "What do you think?"

"I think you're not just good at milkshakes." He replied, grabbing her hand. "Run."

His sonic made short work of the door and they climbed down the utility access as quietly as they could.

"That's it, then, there, in the vat. The Nesteine Consciousness?" She verified.

He nodded grimly. "A living plastic creature. Lost it's protein planets in the Time War."

"Don't suppose you'd be willing to just tip that anti-plastic in and then off we go?" She stage whispered.

He frowned at her. "I have to give it a chance." He replied.

She gave him an inscrutable look, then sighed. "I know. Had to ask though. Look" She pointed one level up. "There's RJ. At least let me get him free before you tick them off too badly, yea?" She ran off, leaving the Doctor, staring.

He straightened, approaching the vat containing the living plastic entity known as the Nesteine Consciousness.

"I seek audience with the Nesteine Consciousness under peaceful contract, accordant to article 14 of the Shadow Proclamation. If I may have permission to approach? You have my thanks."

Gemma listened to the conversation with one ear as she worked to free RJ, who was just started to rouse.

"Sorry Gemma." RJ sat up wincing and rubbing his head. "The fourth one came out of nowhere."

"It's alright, I got you, hurt anywhere?" She questioned, pulling him to his feet.

"Only my pride." He replied. "Blimey, captured by shop window dummies. How rubbish is that?" He scowled.

She patted his shoulder. "Trust me, it could have gone way worse." She replied. At least it had been shop window dummies and not a trash bin this time.

"Looks like the Doctor needs our help." Mickey nodded toward the Timelord, whose attempt to treat with the Consciousness had failed predictably. Autons were now bringing in the Tardis.

"Brace yourself." She warned Mickey as the Consciousness panicked, initiating the attack.

The whole building shook under the strain of transmitting the signal, dust and debris falling around them.

"RJ, take out all the Autons between the Doctor and the Tardis." Gemma instructed.

"What about you?" He asked.

"'Bout time I started earning my place on the team." She replied. "Now go, shift!"

He ran towards the Tardis as she climbed the nearest ladder.

'Was she seriously gonna do this again?' She thought to herself.

She grabbed the ax, thankful it was in the same place as before. This would have been an awful time to have to start playing "Spot the Differences in the Universes."

She smashed the ax into the chain, freeing it instantly. She climbed onto the railing, knowing she would need all the velocity she could get if she wanted to make it back onto the platform.

The Doctor watched her with horrified eyes. "Gemma, what are you doing?" He cried, struggling anew against the two autons who held him captive.

She paused for a second. Just one, but it that second a million thoughts ran through her mind-

This was how it all started, before. Her and the Doctor and the end of the world.

Was she really ready for this? All of this, this moment, this event, her on the railing, the Doctor watching her with hope and horror in his eyes. Could she really do all this again?

She stared down at the Doctor.

Different faces, different universes.

Always the same man. Even now he was shouting for her to get out, save herself.

As if.

She was Gemma Thorn, dammit. She could stride parallel to parallel for a million years. Everything else could change. Names, faces, places, time lines. The whole of absolutely everything could come to dust.

But she would still be Gemma Thorn.

_He had told her once, on that faraway planet, when she had promised him forever, that the words she heard in English were quite different sometimes than the words he heard if he listened in Gallifreyan. She had meant the word forever, when she said it. However he took the meaning, she had meant it._

_But he had explained to her that the Gallifreyan language didn't have a word that meant forever. For the Lords of Time, there was always a starting and an ending, the knowledge of time moving, changing, running out. The only real constant was change._

_So she had looked him straight in the eye and said "I-am-never-gonna-leave-you. The skies can catch on fire, the oceans can burn, the stars can fall. All the words of every language anyone has ever dreamed of can dry up and blow away. Gallifrey will return before I leave you. Storms and demons and devils and Daleks. I don't care. I'm staying with you. What's the Gallifreyan translation for that?"_

_He looked at her for a very long moment._

"_Anyway." He replied. "That's the closest word. Anyway."_

"_Well then." She replied. "I'm staying with you anyway."_

Her heart hurt at the memory, but in a way it was a good hurt. She had let herself forget just how very fierce she could be, how fiercely she could love.

Bad Wolf hadn't got it all from the Tardis.

The Doctor might be the Savior of a million worlds across a thousand-thousand galaxies.

So what.

She was the one who saved the Doctor.

"Still got the bronze.." She whispered, and swung.

The Doctor watched in horror as the obviously insane Gemma Thorn literally swung into battle. As she had predicted, things had gone down hill quickly, especially once the Consciousness had detected the Tardis.

He hadn't seen the two Autons behind him until it was too late, and the leftmost one now held the vial of Anti-plastic. Damning evidence indeed.

The Consciousness had learned from their escapades the night before, and these two Autons were quite a bit stronger than the last.

His heart sunk when the Consciousness activated the relay. Hundreds, thousands most likely, would die tonight. For the sake of his mercy and ineptitude.

And then he saw Gemma. Standing on the railing, clutching a chain, her eyes staring straight at him and somehow a thousand miles away.

She looked like a martyr, in that moment, like Joan of Arc, or one of those poor girls he had failed to save at the witch trials. He always marveled that blithe, ignorant, unaware planet earth could somehow manage to produce some of the bravest, most brilliant, shining people he'd ever met.

It was why he kept coming back. Continued to ask that same question, over and over.

Because offer an incredible person an incredible opportunity, and they almost always said yes.

There was a few, Like Joan, or Abe or Morgan, who wouldn't, or couldn't.

But sometimes he was very, very lucky, and an incredible person would step into his life for a moment, for a heartbeat, and he would get to shine with them.

And oh, how Gemma Thorn shone.

She looked like a companion.

He wondered if she knew she was crying.

"Geronimo!" She cried as she flew at the Auton holding the Anti-plastic. She didn't worry about trying to get the vial from it, simply knocking him into the vat, anti-plastic spilling across the surface of the Consciousness as it screamed in agonized fury. She had gotten more than enough velocity, and for a moment she wondered if she wouldn't just keep swinging forward, flying into space.

But gravity kicked in, as it had a habit of doing, and fate was kind, this time at least.

The Doctor caught her.

Nearly throwing her over his shoulder in his anxiousness to get them to the safety of the Tardis, her feet barely seemed to touch the ground. And then there was RJ, pulling her in, the Doctor hot on her heels, the whole building shaking.

The Doctor lunged for the console, and seconds later, that beautiful 'elevators filled with butterflies' feeling filled her stomach as they materialized safely.

RJ wasted no time heading out the door. "Gemma, I'm gonna go see to the damage." He turned back around. "Why don't you take the rest of the night off. Let me save the world for a while." He grinned.

She grinned back. "Yeah, bet your good at it, too." She teased.

He winked. "Learned from the very best. See ya Doc!" He called as he ran off.

She followed out more slowly, recognizing the area as being the park right across from her flat.

"He was right, you know." The Doctor said. "You saved the world tonight, Gemma Thorn, and you did it very well."

She smiled. "In all fairness, I had an excellent reason to believe my plan would work. It wasn't half so brave as it looked."

He shook his head. "Well, I was impressed. Terrified, but impressed."

He studied her for a moment.

"You know who I am" He said factually.

She nodded. "Yeah."

"And what I am?" he said.

"Yeah." She said softly.

"You could come with me." He said it with a quiet dignity, laced with that powerful quality he had, that somehow seemed to make his words echo even in the deadest of rooms.

She smiled sadly. "I can't."

He studied her. "Can't or won't"

"In another lifetime," she paused, sighing deeply. "In ANY other lifetime I would, In a second, in a heartbeat, I would. I would run away with you and see the universe. I'd never look back, I wouldn't think twice. And you'd never be rid of me. Not ever. But in this lifetime, right now..."

"You can't." He finished for her.

"I really can't." She agreed.

But the Doctor was nothing if not clever. "You said right now. Does that mean you can't right now? Or can't forever?"

"I didn't think Time Lords used words like forever." She replied.

He grinned at her.

"Perhaps I'll see you again, Gemma Thorn."

She smiled. "Good luck avoiding me." She called as she walked away.

Because sometimes, when you are sure that everything has ended, it has really just begun.

Authors Notes:

So, Ever_Reader here.

In case anyone was confused, this takes place in an alternate universe. So, not the universe the original show took place in, and not Pete's Universe either. Somewhere else. Can't really say where, or when or how, without killing the story line. Will do my best to clarify any confusion as to whats going on as events unfold.

A Doctor story is a massive undertaking (with a fierce fan base), so a part of me is really cringing at starting this. But I have a lot of the ground work laid.

The best part about writing a story in an AU is that little things don't always have to be real world perfect. So if I spell something different, such as a name, it's not only NOT a big deal, but may be on purpose, as surely some things would differ slightly between universes.

Lastly, I am a hardcore Doctor / Rose Tyler Shipper. Allow me to repeat : I SHIP THE DOCTOR AND ROSE TYLER. Yes, my main character is called Gemma Thorn. That is what she is called. I never said it was her name. I have reasons for what I am doing, but I think the story will be more enjoyable if you discover them as the story unfolds.

And very very last but not least...is anyone else out there absolutely terrified of the 50th? Giving Moffat another whack at my OTP feels like letting my hyperactive seven year old loose blindfolded in a china store with a baseball bat on roller skates. No, I am not exaggerating. Nerd girls will weep and fandoms will fall.

Like Sherlock.

See my point?

Geronimo, Dear Readers.

Ever_Reader


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: And here we go, next chapter of Unwritten Line. If you follow my SPN work, will try to get a chapter up there also tonight.**

**No reviews yet, so hard to tell how the story is coming across. If you have a moment, drop me a line. Time travel stories are the Bernuda Triangle of writing, because it's so easy to jack them up...**

**As Always, **

**EverReader**

**Disclaimer: Not my sandbox. Just visiting...**

**The Unwritten Line- Chapter Two**

"**The Whispering Rift"**

Miss Gemma Thorn sat at her desk in her sitting room, the evening's chill dispersed by the merry blaze crackling in the fireplace. In the distance, carolers could be heard, spreading goodwill ahead of the upcoming holiday.

But Miss Thorn, sitting at her desk in the deepening shadows, was unaware of her surroundings, focused entirely on the letter in her hands.

If you were to look close enough, you might notice that the postmark read Cardiff.

And if you were to gaze upon the face of Miss Thorn, as she smoothed the letter with subtly shaking hands, you might notice the slight frown between her brows, the way her teeth worried her bottom lip.

For the correspondence in her hands held grave news indeed.

Standing, she walked out of the room with decision.

The Rift had awakened.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The Doctor whistled jauntily as he stepped out of Tardis. Grinning in delight, he perused the frosty scene around him.

Christmas, oh, how he loved Christmas!

One of the ape's better ideas. Snowmen, Mistletoe, PRESENTS...oh these were a few of his favorite things, yes indeed.

Though, of course, he hadn't really had too many people to buy presents for recently.

In fact, now that he really started to think about it, he probably hadn't visited a holiday in ages.

Literally ages.

Of course, that didn't mean anything in particular. He could have just woken up in a Christmas-y mood this morning. He didn't need a _reason. _

And if he happened to pick up a few prese-_souvenirs_, well, everyone did on holiday, didn't they?

Walking up to the street corner, he paused as a coach passed. Glancing down at the pile of newspapers the man next to him was selling, he frowned, picking one up for a closer look.

What the-

_Cardiff?_

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

"Oh, Sir, please, we must get some help! It's Ungodly!" The young woman wrung her hands in her apron, distress evident in her voice.

"Gwyneth, I've told you, news of this sort can't get out, if it does, they'll be saying service at Sneed &amp; Company is so bad, even the Dearly Departed are departing. Now quickly, out the door."

Near tears, the young woman turned to open the door for her Master, only to be quite startled by a cloaked figure standing on the door step.

"Oh, my goodness, what now?" Poor Gwyneth cried.

"Who's that then? You sir, show us your face!" Mr. Sneed demanded in what he hoped was an authoritative voice.

The figure reached up to push back their hood, revealing a rather surprising sight.

The young blond studied them with measuring eyes. Suddenly, she grinned, a confident grin that quite took the other two aback.

Arching an eyebrow, the blonde said "I believe you requested assistance?"

Mr. Sneed was stunned into silence, while poor Gwyneth...

"Oh, Mr. Sneed, for shame! She's wearing britches!"

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

_Cardiff._

Why Cardiff? The Tardis had been acting more than passing strange recently. She'd always been headstrong, but the Doctor liked to think he'd had handled it with good grace.

But this was getting beyond the pale.

He was certain he had specified Naples. He loved Naples. And he'd set it for 1860, but this was...

He paused, sniffing the air...1869?

Cardiff.

Christmas.

1869.

Well, one out of three wasn't too shabby...

He snorted.

"'Keep telling yourself that, mate." He said to himself.

Suddenly, from some sort of large hall up ahead, he could hear the sounds of screaming. Frantic people streamed out of the exits.

He started to sprint.

He might as well have a look about. He was already here, after all...

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma dodged frantic, screaming men and women as she attempted to keep her eyes on the specter.

Both Mr. Sneed and Gwyneth, to their credit, had managed to stand their ground against the crowd at the far end of the hall, but she didn't expect them to be much help. Suddenly, she dropped to the ground, dodging the specter as it made an attempt towards her, dislodging her hood.

Despite herself, she grinned. She had missed this. The last four years had been busy, starting both Thorn &amp; Company, as well as laying the groundwork for Bad Wolf.

It hadn't exactly been _dull_, after all, there was always more than enough excitement to go around.

But this.

This was a chance to fix something that had haunted her for years.

She had wrestled for the longest time with the morality of what she was doing.

Changing things in this universe based on what had happened in the others was more than a little dangerous.

If she said the wrong thing, or did the wrong thing, or even the right thing at the wrong time, she ran the risk of creating a paradox, perhaps creating the very tragedies she hoped to prevent.

She didn't have the ability to sense whether or not events were absolutely fixed, not the way the Doctor did, anyway. Though Bad Wolf was getting better at conveying to her the nature of things such as fixed points.

She had been terrified at first, afraid to so much as step on a crack in a sidewalk.

But then she had realized something. The very fact that she _didn't know_ whether or not something was fixed might be what allowed her to change it.

As long as she was right there, in the moment, _experiencing it_, as long as she did her best to LIVE the events, instead of just dabbling in them here or there, her actions could blend into this universe's time stream, making subtle alterations without causing major paradoxes.

That was one of the reasons the Doctor traveled the way he did, after all. At first, she had thought it was somewhat random and pell-mell, and more than a little dangerous. What could it hurt to open a travel guide once or twice, after all?

But then she had realized why the Doctor avoided reading facts and figures about his destinations at all costs. Because once he knew it was a fact, it was, in fact, _a fact_.

Her knowledge was a little different, of course. Her knowledge was from completely different universes, making it more the knowledge of certain _possibilities_ than certainties. This gave her even more freedom to act, as long as she was very, very careful.

She wanted to do so much more, of course. Save the Titanic, stop World War Two, warn JFK.

But she couldn't. The more she changed, the more dangerous it became. And the more she changed, the less useful her information became.

So tonight, she would settle for one life. Just one.

She would settle for saving Gwyneth Cooper.

The specter dove at her again, and she threw herself on the floor to avoid it.

Getting up, she glanced at the stage where a dumbstruck Charles Dickens had been joined by a wide eyed, jumper clad man wearing a black leather jacket and a mile wide smile.

Here comes trouble, she thought to herself with a grin.

Good thing she had used extra hair pins this morning.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

"Fantastic, just fantastic! Looks to be made of...gas? That's new! Haven't seen that before!" The Doctor said, grinning to man beside him on the stage. The man didn't reply, instead settling for a scathing look, before turning back to scowl at the screaming crowd.

Suddenly, amongst the fleeing people, across the hall, he spotted a familiar face.

"What?" He cried. "How-why-WHAT?"

He stared harder, watching as the girl threw herself out of danger (again) with nothing more than a grin and a toss of her head.

"That's not possible!" He cried, grabbing the arm of the man standing beside him.

"Look there, that woman, do you see her?" He demanded, giving the older (looking, of course) gentleman a shake.

"Have you gone mad? Of course I see her, you navy!" The gentleman said, waving his arm in the general direction of the specter, who had now disappeared into the gas light. "Proud of your little show, are you, sir? Come to gloat? You have quite ruined my performance, I'll have you know-"

"No, no not the creature, the WOMAN, the blond woman right over- Did she just wink at me?" The Doctor paused, taken back for the second time that evening.

"She did, she really did. That cheeky bit of baggage just winked at me!" He finished.

"To whom are referring to, sir?" The gentleman demanded.

"The woman, right over-" He sighed. "Now look what you've done, you've distracted me, now she's run off."

He snapped his fingers. "A vortex manipulator. Only explanation."

"A what?" The gentleman looked at him like he had suddenly started speaking Manchurian.

"Nice to meet you!" The Doctor cried as he jumped from the stage.

"Do not think you will escape me so easily Sir, you have ruined my performance!" The gentleman gave chase.

The Doctor paused outside the hall, frowning. Where did they go...

Suddenly he caught sight of a coach, no, a hearse on the road up ahead. In the darkness his Time Lord eyes could just make out the gleam of dark blond hair.

"Ha-ha!" The Doctor cried. He lunged inside the nearest coach. Rapping the ceiling hard he cried

"After that hearse, quickly now..."

"You have stolen my limelight this evening sir, will you now steal my coach as well?" The gentleman cried.

The Doctor gave him a grin. "Course not, in you go!" Pulling the older gentleman in with a tumble.

"Everything all right, Mr. Dickens?" The coachman asked.

The Doctor's head whipped around, eyebrows raised. "Dickens?- THE Mr. Dickens?"

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma awoke with a groan. Her head was pounding. Where was she...

It came back to her with a flash.

_Mr. Sneed_.

That dirty, cheap CONNIVING undertaker. That nasty old man had hit her over the head with something...a...a candlestick? Really?

Were they playing Clue now?

She looked down at her hand. Blood, but not too much. Luckily, she healed faster than most humans.

She froze as a low groan sounded to her left. Slowly she swiveled her head to the source of the sound.

"Oh, you are kidding me..."

She slowly edged off the table, backing towards the doors.

This might require slightly more than a few extra hairpins...

Where was her sword?

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The pounding on the door echoed down the hall of the house as Gwyneth smoothed down her apron nervously.

She didn't know whether she was coming or going anymore. The dead were walking, tonight's misfortunes were only the latest in an ever growing string of horrors.

Then that woman had shown up.

She was beautiful, in a way, with strong features and a take charge demeanor. She walked and talked like gentry, but Gwyneth had never seen a _Lady _wearing clothes of that sort before.

Though, considering the events of the evening, the clothes did seem somewhat appropriate.

And the Lady had seemed to know what she was doing. She had led them straight to the spirit, as great relief to Gwyneth as she was afraid Mr. Sneed might insist she use her..._talent. _

Gwyneth feared her powers, which seemed to grow stronger even as she herself grew older.

She had a sneaking suspicion the woman herself might have a similar talent. She had looked at her, long and hard in the torch light outside the hall, and somehow, Gwyneth had just known that the woman knew what she was, what she could _do_.

Then Mr. Sneed had panicked, when they returned to the house.

He had hit the blond lady on the head so hard Gwyneth had been afraid he had murdered her, though when she checked, the woman was still breathing. The blood had been frightful, though, and Gwyneth could still see traces of it under her nails as she went to open the door.

Oh, Saints preserve her.

Was that THE Charles Dickens?

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The Doctor smiled cheerily at the worried looking housemaid, even as he craned to see over her head.

He knew that woman, that woman with the impossible face had to be somewhere inside, and were those lights flickering for any good reason?

"I'm sorry, sir. We're closed." The maid, a pretty brunette, said with wide, frightened eyes.

The older gentleman scowled at her. "Nonsense. Since when did the dead die on schedule? I demand to speak with your Master. Fetch him immediately."

"He's not, he's...not in, Sir." She said, attempting to close the door, but the younger man (and wasn't he dressed nearly as strange as that Lady) stopped it with his foot.

"Oh, we'll only be a moment. Just looking for a friend of mine. Gemma Thorn's her name. Blond hair, cheeky grin, cloaked in mischief, no doubt. Have the lights been doing that long?"

He pushed past a stunned Gwyneth to place his ear against the wall underneath the nearest light. He listened for a moment, then grinned even larger. "Take a listen, Charlie, they're in the walls, in the GAS."

He shook his head, smiling a little. "Fantastic!"

"Oh, no one, don't...don't call me Charlie..." The older gentleman started, only to be interrupted by a loud crash and a scream of anger from down the hall.

"That would be my date!" The Doctor called, as he ran down the hall. Stopping at the the door, he attempted to open it.

Finding it locked, he called out to the maid "Where's the key?"

"Mr. Sneed has it, but he's outside with the hearse..." She replied fearfully.

From inside, they could hear the sounds of more crashing, and then a woman cursing.

"You all right in there?" The Doctor called out.

"_Just...dandy_!"

_crash..._

"_I need a sword_!"

_another crash..._

"_Or a pistol_!"

_another crash, this time accompanied the the sound of breaking glass..._

"_OR A GRENADE!"_

"Oh, my! She's a rather violent young thing, isn't she?" Charles said, looking at the door in some consternation.

"You've no idea!" The Doctor said to him, gesturing him out of the way.

"Clear the way Gemma, I'm going to have to kick it in!"

"_Just use your bloody sonic already!"_

"I told you!" The Doctor's voice held the faintest trace of irritation. "It doesn't do wood!", with that, he sent a mighty kick to the door, blasting it open.

Gemma Thorn stood in the center of the room, coffins broken and scattered around her as she held a fighting stance, fists clenched as she circled to keep the dead man and woman both in her view at the same time.

Her hair was falling out of it's pins and she blew some of it out of her face as she turned to face the Doctor.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" She cried.

Her head was killing her, and for a second she swayed. She only took her eyes off the man for a moment, but it was long enough for the man to take a lunging step towards her.

Viper quick the Doctor's arm whipped out, wrapping around Gemma's waist and pulling her towards him.

"Sorry, mate, the Lady's spoken for." He quipped as he brought her to his side.

"You all right then?" He asked, taking her in, from her bloodied clothes to her bruised knuckles.

"Ohhh, dandy." She said lightly. She raised a eyebrow at Charles. "Making friends, I see?"

"Gemma Thorn, may I introduce Mr. Charles Dickens?" Never taking his eyes off the undead occupants of the room in front of him.

"Charlie, If I might introduce the impossible Gemma Thorn."

"Impossible MISS Gemma Thorn." Gemma corrected without missing a beat.

"And just why exactly is she impossible?" Charles inquired.

"I just saw her in London. One-hundred and forty-four years from now."

"I took a coach!" Gemma quipped, holding her head.

"And I am positively going to kill that man." She said.

"What did he hit you with?" The Doctor inquired, still watching the two creatures in the Chapel, who had ceased attacking and now simply stood there, watching.

They appeared to be losing their control over the bodies, and the corpses were starting to sway back and forth.

"A candlestick." Gwyneth volunteered, trying to be helpful. Gemma rolled her eyes, then winced, regretting it almost instantly.

"Aren't you going to introduce us to your new friends, then?" The Doctor asked Gemma.

"No friends of mine." She replied.

"Did you even try talking before moving on to scenarios involving grenades?" The Doctor admonished.

She looked at him, slightly stunned. "Really? I was, you know, gonna make tea and everything, right after they climbed BACK IN their coffins and stopped trying to kill me!"

Charles snorted. "My, you sound like my brother and his wife having a spat over household expenses!"

They both turned to glare at him.

He held up his hands in mock surrender. "Merely an observation."

The Doctor focused back on the issue at hand.

"Right then. Who are you? Where do you come from?" He demanded.

The corpses opened their mouths simultaneously, half screaming in voices that sounded like mirrors breaking- "_Failing. Open the rift. We are dying. These Forms-cannot sustain! Help us_." And with that they collapsed, all signs of animation leaving them.

Twenty minutes later, the group had gathered in the sitting room as Gwyneth served tea to the shaken group.

The Doctor had promptly sat Gemma down on the settee before the fireplace, and proceeded to examine and clean her head wound, giving Mr. Sneed an admonishing glare as he did so.

Gemma had put the time to good use, threatening Mr. Sneed with every frightful thing and curse word she could think of, much to the Doctor's amusement.

Finally, after shining his sonic in her eyes for a ninth time, he said "Well, it's a nasty bump, it'll be a hell of a bruise, and more than a bit tender, I'd imagine. But you won't be needing a coffin of your own today."

"I'll hold you to that." She said with a grimace, wishing for some aspirin.

The pain in her head was bad enough, but the psychic whispers in this house were incredibly loud, she wondered how Gwyneth had born it for all these years.

"Is it always this bad?" She asked Gwyneth, not really expecting a reply, but curious all the same.

"Not really, no." Gwyneth replied without thinking about it. "You two seem to have them excited."

"I'd imagine so." The Doctor muttered. "Right. First things first. Let's get you sorted, Gemma. Hand it over."

She stared at him blankly. "Give what over?" She replied, wondering if she had misheard him over the din of the whispers and the drumming in her head.

"You know what." The Doctor replied, attempting to look stern.

"No-oo. I really, really don't. Help a girl out. Whatcha lose, and am I supposed to give it back? If so, you really should have said so last time."

"Last time I didn't know you had a vortex manipulator. If you wanted to travel you shoulda just said so, instead of acting all coy. I offered, you know." He admonished.

She looked at him in confusion. "What in blazes are you talking about, Doctor? A vortex manipulator? Like River uses? You know better, I've been here a while."

"Who's River? And what do you mean, you've been here a while? How did you get here then? Hafta been a vortex manipulator." He insisted, starting to get irritated.

"Who's River? My god Doctor, how early is it for you? I knew it was early, just looking at you, but..." She rubbed her forehead wearily.

How did River handle this sort of thing?

She snapped her fingers.

"Diaries. Right. Haven't synced diaries in a while, have you got yours? Gwyneth, before your boss attempted to murder me, I had a bag, a brown bag, I need it!" Gemma said. Obviously she a and the Doctor were more than a little out of sync at the moment...

"Yes, Miss." Gwyneth bobbed a curtsy. "I've it in the kitchen, safe and sound, I'll fetch it for you, right away." She scurried off.

"Ohh, don't-don't curtsy." She grimaced. "I'll never get used to that."

Suddenly, the Doctor's open hand splayed out in her face, causing her to jerk back.

"The Vortex Manipulator." He demanded.

She studied him.

"You think I got here by vortex manipulator?" She confirmed.

"Course you did." He asserted.

"Why would I have used a vortex manipulator?" She asked, curious.

"Earth doesn't have any other go-to form of time travel, not really. Your species never gets any good at it. That's why I need it back. I'll disable it, so neither you or anyone else can cause any trouble, then I'll pop you back to your flat, whenever that is. Unless you've changed your mind about traveling, that is. I might take you with me, if you asked. On a trial basis, naturally."

"Oh, naturally." Gemma agreed with a slight trace of mocking sarcasm. "A vortex manipulator, eh?"

"Yup." He agreed cheerfully.

"You think you're so impressive, don't you?" She smiled a little.

"I am so impressive!" He said, taken slightly aback.

"Yeah?"

"YEAH."

"Well, I got news for you." She said, standing up. "It wasn't a vortex manipulator." She stalked out of the room.

"What do you mean it wasn't a vortex manipulator?" He called out after her crossly.

She stood in the kitchen, breathing heavily. The light shaking she had experienced when she had first received intelligence that the Rift was awakening had returned full force.

He didn't believe her.

Worse, he didn't trust her. He thought she had got here by using a vortex manipulator, like Jack or River.

And just where was Jack? The Doctor met Jack early on, not long after meeting her.

Who knew how many times they had met so far? Worse, how may times had they not met? Was this really the first time he had met her since she had traveled back? Now, of all times, with the Rift awakening?

For the first time that evening, she was really, truly,deeply frightened.

"Are you all right, Miss?" Gwyneth stood before her, Gemma's satchel in her hands.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Gemma lied.

"Is your head hurting you?" Gwyneth inquired.

"No, no, it's not that." Gemma murmured, turning towards the window.

She paused, trying to phrase her thoughts in a way Gwyneth could understand.

"When you were a little girl, Gwyneth, did you ever a friend, a really close friend, who knew every little thing about you, every secret, every smile. You trusted them, and they trusted you, and you thought...well, you thought it would always be that way. Only things happened. Little ordinary things that turned into days that turned into years that turn into a lifetime."

She paused, swallowing fiercely to stop the tears.

"And you just...sorta lose them? You know? You don't mean to, but it's like they just sorta...slip away, you don't hold on tight enough...and you lose them. And then, one day, you're just walking along, living this life that has become yours, and you see them. Through a shop window or across the street, and suddenly, every brilliant shining moment comes rushing back to you. And you wonder, how you could ever have forgotten them? But then they look at you, and you realize that's all they're doing. Just...looking at you. They don't recognize you at all, they're just...looking through you. And suddenly you know. That even though they are right there, so close you could reach out an touch them, they're actually a million miles away?"

Gwyneth studied her. "There's a boy." She said, haltingly at first.

"The Butcher's boy. He's grown so much I barely recognized him myself, but for his smile. Even as small boy, he had such a lovely smile. We used to sneak away, on Sunday's, when we were meant to be at school, learning our letters. We'd run off to the moors, and play." She smiled a little. "He came to the door, making a delivery a while back, and as soon as he smiled, I knew. But..." She shrugged. "I've changed a lot, I 'spose". She looked away.

"I suppose I have too." Gemma said sadly.

"Don't worry, Miss." Gwyneth said kindly, patting her on the shoulder, "Me mam used to say that these sort of things sorted themselves out, given enough time."

Gemma laughed. "Well, that," She said "I have plenty of...Gwyneth? Gwyneth are you all right?"

Gwyneth's eyes had gone dark when she'd touched Gemma's shoulder, and Gemma quickly realized what was happening. As gently as she could, she lead the entranced girl over to a kitchen stool and sat her down.

"It's alright." She cooed gently. "I'm right here, I'm not leaving. Tell me what you see?"

"Oh, Miss." Gwyneth's voice had taken on an echoing, empty quality that sent shivers down her spine.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Your the one who slipped, not him, you slipped, and now you're so alone. So lost. And you walk forward, just to fall back again. Your shadow, shaped like a wolf, and you're everywhere, a million echoes, screaming his name, but he hardly ever hears you, and your name, your real name is hidden, written in a room lit by a dying star,and only you know what's on the missing pages, and it all ends, it all gets unwritten...-"

"Where, Gwyneth? Who gets unwritten?" Gemma's heart was pounding in her chest, but she had to know...

"You, him...everything." Gwyneth whimpered.

"When?" Gemma barely breathed the word, it was such a dangerous question.

A time traveler should always beware a question like that.

Gemma looked up at her. "The day you go to Trenzalore."

"Am I interrupting, Ladies?" The Doctor, poked his head in. The two had been gone so long he had started to wonder if perhaps they hadn't legged it out a window. But when he found them, they were sitting at the table and both were as white as sheets.

Gwyneth appeared to awaken out of some sort of trance, and whatever she had been saying had clearly frightened Gemma, who looked like she had just witnessed the death of a best friend.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Miss, I didn't mean to, sometimes I just have these turns, me mam said I had the gift, but I try ever so hard not to use it-"

"It's alright Gwyneth." Gemma said woodenly. "It was as much my fault as yours. I'm a bit louder than most, and I wasn't very well shielded. My head still aches a bit."

"Oh, Miss, I'm so sorry, I frightened you, I can see it on your face."

"What could you have said that frightened Miss Gemma Thorn?" The Doctor mused aloud.

Gemma's eyes shot to his. "What would it take to frighten you, Doctor?" She replied.

"Perhaps some questions don't have answers until they are asked." She picked up her bag and stood in front of him.

"Place your words with care Doctor. Both questions and their answers can be powerful weapons."

He watched her solemnly. Whatever psychic traces Gwyneth had latched onto a moment ago were gone, shielded so well even the Doctor's time lord senses couldn't pick anything up.

And as Time Lords were a strongly telepathic race, that was quite telling in and of itself.

She reached into her bag and pulled at a leather-bound book, a beautiful soft rose color, with curving silvery tracings on it. With a start, he recognized the writing as Gallifreyan. He went to grab it from her, but she refused to relinquish it, holding onto it with one hand, allowing him to merely read the words embossed on the cover.

"The Story of Anyway." he said, so quietly only she could hear.

"We're all just stories in the end, Doctor." She replied. "I just do my very best not to be the princess."

"Who are you then? The Hero?" He asked.

Her eyes widened. "Oh no, I leave that up to Time Lords and Secretaries." She smiled.

"I'm just the narrator." Her grin widened. "Usually."

"Usually" He agreed wryly.

"So, I take it you've never seen this before?" She asked, worry tinging her voice.

"Never." he asserted.

She sighed. "I was afraid of that. We're out of order even worse than I thought." Stepping back, she paged through the first few pages for a moment.

"Downing St.?" She asked.

"I beg your pardon?" He asked.

"So...that'd be a no. What about Utah?" she said, eyes on his face.

"What's in Utah?" He said, becoming more confused by the minute.

"Oh God." She flipped forward until she was only a few pages from the front. "The moon, have we done the moon yet?"

"Do you want me to take you to the moon?" The Doctor asked. "Easy enough, but you'll need a suit-"

"Doctor!" She interrupted him. "You know me, I mean, you definitely know who I am, right? You recognized me, you called me Gemma?" She watched him anxiously.

"Yes, we met in London-" He started.

"Yes, but when? When was the last time you saw me?" Her voice had risen an octave, and the Doctor instinctively reached out a hand to comfort her.

She jerked away. "Tell me Doctor, when was the last time you saw ME?"

He swallowed. "I've only met you the once. Just a fortnight or so ago. In London."

"Against the Autons" She confirmed, her voice gone wooden again.

She turned away from him, laying her head on the cold glass of the window, watching her breath melt the frost angels, only to have them re-freeze as soon as she inhaled again.

"You should go." She said quietly. "If what's happening here-if what is happening here is what I think it is, it's not going to be anything you can fix, Doctor." She turned to face him.

"Some stories really are ghost stories."

He studied her, then shook his head. "I don't think so." Coming to stand before her he said, "Tell me what you know?"

She shook her head. "We need more information still. I could be wrong. I don't think so. I wish I was, but we need to be sure."

"Information, eh?" He said. He turned to Gwyneth. "Fetch some candles Gwyneth."

"Whatever for, Sir?" She questioned.

"We going to get Gemma her information!" He clapped his hands together. "Fantastic! I love a good séance on Christmas!"

"God, I hope I'm wrong." Gemma whispered.

No sooner had the five of them sat around the table than Charles spoke up.

"Doctor, I assure you, all of this is quite unnecessary. This is all obviously some sort of trick, mirrors or something of that sort, meant to draw up business for Mr. Sneed."

"Oy, I take offense at that Sir. What kind of man do you take me for?" Mr. Sneed objected.

"Would you like to know my thoughts on the matter?" Gemma interposed with saccharine sweetness.

"Now children..." the Doctor said, a note of warning entering his voice.

Gwyneth spoke up, "Truly, Sir, it's no trick. It's happened on and off for months now. I've been begging for help, experts, clerics, table rappers, I even wrote to the famous psychic Mary Riese, all the way across the ocean in San Francisco. They say she has a knack for dispelling mischievous spirits,but my letter must not have reached her, for I've had no reply."

"Mary Riese?" Gemma inquired suddenly. "In San Francisco, you say?"

"Yes." Gwyneth nodded. "The very same. Why?"

"She's the one who forwarded your letter to me." Gemma answered. "I make it a point to keep an eye on Cardiff anyway, due to the Rift, but you two have done an excellent job of keeping this quiet."

"How long have you known about the Rift in Cardiff?" The Doctor questioned. "I've only just discovered this one myself."

"Rift?" Charles asked.

"A weak point, in time and space." The Doctor answered without taking his eyes off Gemma.

She took pity on Charles and tried to explain a little better. "Like two rooms, in a house, side by side. Touching, but with no way through. But over time, the wall between the rooms developed a weak point, a crack, you might say."

"And something from one room could cross over to the next." The Doctor finished.

"I never realized a crack in a wall could be so ominous." Charles muttered to himself.

"Just be glad it's not your bedroom!" The Doctor agreed.

"And just how is this going to sort this mess out?" Mr. Sneed demanded.

"You heard them in the Chapel. They're asking for help, reaching out the only way they can." The Doctor replied.

"Perhaps." Gemma replied, earning a sharp look from the Doctor.

"In case you haven't noticed, three out of the five of us are more than a little psychic." The Doctor started. "We'll do our best to initiate a conversation."

"Without dying." Gemma muttered.

"Miss Thorn, is that the sound of you volunteering?" The Doctor asked, staring straight across the table at her.

"Hardly. Beside, Doctor, as you have already said. It isn't my wall with a crack in it. It's Gwyneth's."

All eyes turned to Gwyneth. "Oh. No Miss, I couldn't."

"Yes, you can." Gemma said, kindly but firmly. "You got through a smaller crack than that in my walls. All these years, growing up on the rift, all these whispers in your head, your dreams. And no small amount of natural talent to boot."

Gwyneth swallowed. "I'm frightened, Miss."

"Don't be afraid. I'm not going to let anything hurt you. You have my word." Gemma vowed.

"Can you make a promise like that, Miss?" Gwyneth said quietly.

"I'd like to think I've earned that right." Gemma replied with grave fierceness.

"All right then." She closed her eyes as the room quieted. The candles flickered, casting eery shadows on the walls and all around Gemma the whispers grew louder, more demanding. The hair on her arms raised.

"Speak to me, O Spirits." Gwyneth intoned softly, imitated the table rappers whose help she had so often sought. "Come to me, we're listening, come to me now-"

Suddenly the room lit with an electric blue light, as a wavering, unfocused shape took sudden form behind Gwyneth, seeming to swallow her very shadow.

"We are here..." The voices echoed, hundreds made one in a discordant jumble that made Gemma's head ache fiercely anew.

"Who are you? What do you want?" The Doctor demanded.

"We...are the Gelph. We are so very few now, only shadows, destroyed by the Time War, so few of us left. Our bodies are gone, and we cannot escape, the rift is too narrow. We cannot sustain our form without physical bodies. Your world is hostile."

"You need bodies, dead bodies, to survive Earth's atmosphere?" The Doctor asked, seeking to understand.

"We are dying, and your world has little use for your dead. Give them to us, Pity the Gelph."

"How many are you?" Gemma spoke for the first time.

"So few, so very few left, pity the Gelph. Help Us." The blue specter beseeched.

"How?" Charles asking, braving conversation for the first time since the spirit had arrived.

"Open the Rift. Pity The Gelph." And with that she vanished, The Doctor narrowly managing to catch Gwyneth as she fell over in exhaustion.

"They lie." Gemma said with conviction, her voice echoing in the sudden silence of the room.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Nearly half an hour later, Gemma sat beside Gwyneth of the chaise, fury and fear radiating off of her in equal measure.

She didn't know what else to do. Short of slapping the Doctor silly, stomping on his big toe and yelling at him to shut up and do what she said, she was literally out of ideas.

She hovered over Gwyneth, snapping like a mother wolf anytime anyone came too near. She was wondering if she could somehow spirit Gwyneth away without anyone noticing.

She could drive a coach, but could she carry Gwyneth?

"Gemma, you're being unreasonable!" The Doctor half-shouted at her, furious and frustrated. "You heard the Gelph. They're dying."

"No!" She shouted back. "Just open you eyes, Doctor, please, I am begging you. Just tonight, they killed Mr. Redfern, and tried to kill me. They mean us harm. I promise you this."

"How can you know for sure Gemma? Tell me one very good reason why you can be so sure of yourself that you could condemn an entire species to death!" He tossed back.

"I know for a fact that Mr. Redfern is dead. That is a fact Doctor." She shouted.

"They're scared and disoriented, desperate for attention and help. They probably didn't even realize they were hurting him until it was too late!"

"Doctor, I promise you, I give you my word, if you let these things loose on earth it will be death for the human race."

The Doctor scrubbed his face.

"Look, Gemma, I know whatever Gwyneth said in the kitchen earlier has you spooked, but you can't just react out of fear. Really, you of all people, I expected better from!"

The moment the words left his mouth he regretted it, a hollow pit opening in his stomach as he watched the look on her face transform form anger to something he couldn't quite describe.

Gemma stared at him. "I can't do this." She whispered. "I just...I can't. I can't look at you, and see him. You open your mouth, and I expect to here his voice, but you're not him."

"Who?" He asked, unease warring with curiosity.

She turned to sit back beside Gwyneth, smoothing the girls hair off her brow.

He grabbed her shoulder, wrenching her around. "Who?"

She looked away. "The Doctor." She said, her voice so low he strained to hear it.

"Gemma, I'm the Doctor. I am THE DOCTOR."

"But not mine." She whispered brokenly.

"I'm the only one of my kind." He responded.

"But your not him. My Doctor." She said sadly, tracing his face with her fingers.

"My Doctor is fierce, so fierce, but kind. He doesn't act out of fear, out of regret. He understands that there is a difference between priceless and free..."

"And he trusts me absolutely." She said.

"I barely know you." The Doctor replied. "And whoever your Doctor is, I've never met him either."

She looked at him solemnly. "And for that, I am very sorry, Doctor, because he is wonderful."

"You love him." The Doctor stated quietly.

"Oh yes. Always yes." She said. "Never doubt that. Whatever else you might think you know about me, Never doubt that."

Gwyneth started to stir.

Gemma looked at the Doctor. "I can't stop you, can I?" She said sadly.

"I can't refuse them, they asked for my help." He replied.

She looked at him solemnly. "They are not what they seem." She whispered.

"I can't just let them die." He replied. She nodded. This was always a possibility.

Plan B then.

"I know what you're thinking." She said suddenly, her voice sharp and almost cutting. "That you'll use Gwyneth to open the rift. But I won't let you Doctor. On this, I will not move. Just holding one long enough for a conversation nearly killed her. She isn't strong enough to stand in the Rift and survive. I won't let you kill her."

"She's the best person for the job." The Doctor argued wearily.

"I can no more let you use her than you could turn away from a plea for help, Doctor. If you are so very determined to rip the universe apart this night, you'll have to do it yourself. Gwyneth's not going to die in your quest for redemption."

He reared back, stung.

"Doesn't she get to make that choice for herself?" He snapped back.

"No, Doctor, because the Gelph may have asked you for your help, but she asked for mine." She glared back, refusing to back down.

"Fine." The Doctor scowled.

"Will you help me get her into the coach?" She asked.

"What, you're actually going to leave, and take her with you?" He said incredulously.

"Yes, and Charles too, if he'll come. Opening the Rift is going to flood this house with energy, we'll only be hurt if we're caught in it. It'll be like Pompeii on volcano day."

He nodded tersely. "Right, then, lets get you loaded up."

In only a matter of moments, they had Gwyneth loaded into the coach, Gemma's horse saddled and ready.

"What about you Charlie?" The Doctor asked.

"If it's alright by you, I believe I'll stay. I should quite like to know what happens. I am no longer so young that any further adventures can be guaranteed to me."

The Doctor nodded as Gemma came to stand before them. "Well, then, off you go."

"Don't, please...don't. You will never know what this is costing me. Never." She swallowed.

She climbed into the saddle, taking the reins in her hands, and then she paused, looking at him.

"Shall I tell you a secret, Doctor?" She asked, looking straight into his eyes.

"You wanted to know what could scare me, Doctor. Because it's not a simple question. I don't fear the monsters, Doctor. I haven't for long time now. What I fear is loss, Doctor. And every moment, every action is really just a question of what am I willing to pay, what am I willing to _lose_. And there is a wolf inside me Doctor, a wolf that fiercely defends what she loves. So ask me what price is too high, Doctor. What am I afraid to _lose_?"

"Alright then, Gemma Thorn, what are you afraid of losing?" He asked, drawn in despite his anger.

She leaned down and whispered a word in his ear, so low the others couldn't hear it, but from the look on his face it obviously meant something to him.

She straightened, avoiding his gaze now. "I'm sorry." She said. "I really am. I'm so sorry."

His hand shot out, gripping her arm.

"Who told you that? That word, _who told you that?!" __He demanded sharply, nearly wrenching her from her horse._

She wiped away a stray tear. "Like I said, I hope you meet him someday."

"Gemma Thorn, there is only one way a person could know that word, only one way you could have found it out." His voice shook as he willed her to look at him, but she wouldn't, staring out into the distance instead.

"Who are you?" He whispered. "You're not possible."

"No." She agreed. "I'm really not. But here we are. All out of order and all out of time."

"You.." He started "You're..."

She smiled at him faintly. "Yes. Always yes."

She snapped the reins suddenly, the horse coming to sudden attention and lurching forward, tearing her from his grasp. The coachman followed smartly, and soon they were just two more shadows in the midnight quiet.

"Doctor, are you alright?" Charles asked, the shell shocked look on the Doctor's face making him more than a little nervous.

"I think I'm married." The Doctor replied.

"Oh. That it a problem." Charles said compassionately.

"I'll tell you what's a problem, a mortuary with mobile customers, that's what!" Mr Sneed interjected, quite done with all the nonsense. "And tell your wife I want my maid back promptly by seven."

He walked into the house grumbling. "Paids holidays, exorcisms, secret wives, it's like a bloody society rag."

"Somehow, I don't think it works quite that way." The Doctor said to Charles as the followed the mortician into the house.

"It never does, with women." Charles agreed.

The three men entered the chill of the morgue.

"I suppose it's never in the parlor." Charles quipped, as he looked around the dank chamber.

"This is where it all started." Sneed said. "Even before I bought the place, there were all sorts of stories, ghosts and the like. Ghosts never bothered me, but the dead should know their place."

"Are you here?" The Doctor called out.

"We are here!" The blue-lit specter replied, materializing underneath the stone archway between the two rooms.

"But where is the girl? She is necessary, to save the Gelph. We have prepared her." The ghostly voices held an edge, a demanding tone that made the Doctor wary.

"Gwyneth is gone." The Doctor replied, facing the specter. "She is human, and not strong enough. We've sent her to safety. I'm the Doctor, I'm strong enough to open the rift."

"Praise the Doctor, praise him!" The eery chorus echoed.

"What do you need me to do?" The Doctor replied.

"Here! Stand here, under the arch!" The Specter replied.

"This isn't permanent, just so you know. I'll help you cross, then take you to a new planet, where you can be safe, and build proper bodies." The Doctor stipulated, crossing to the arch.

"Praise the Doctor." The chorus echoed again.

Taking a deep breath, the Doctor held out his arms and stepped back into the archway.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma judged they were a safe distance from the house. Signaling the coachman, she stopped.

"I have to go back, they'll need my assistance. Whatever you do, don't follow. If anything happens, anything frightful, anything worrisome, head straight for London".

She handed him her card. "Go to this address. They will assist you with anything you need. And whatever happens, I want that girl safe, do you hear me?"

"Yes, Ma'am." The wide eyed coachman replied, looking down at her card.

"Right, I'm counting on you!"

She flew back into the night.

As if she would have ever left the Doctor.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Immediately, the Doctor had known Gemma had been right. The force of the rift, of the billions of beings attempting to use him as a bridge had brought him to his knees.

It would have killed Gwyneth in a heartbeat, and the Doctor was grateful, so grateful her blood wasn't on his hands at the moment.

But now they had much bigger problem.

He fought to move his body out of the archway, but he couldn't, they had too much control, and he could only watch in horror as hundreds of them flew out from the archway.

What had he done?

Charles and Sneed were frozen in place, stunned by the sight before them.

He tried to move his mouth, shape his lips into words to warn them, but he couldn't, he could only watch as one of the corpses, animated by a newly freed Gelph, lumbered behind Sneed, snapping his neck with one cruel, inelegant twist.

The sight of Charles fleeing was the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness.

_It was dark, and eery red light like flames danced all around him. There was something he was meant to be doing, something important, but what? And where was he?_

_And why was he so frightened?_

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma burst through the doors, dodging the specters that disintegrated around her as they met the fresh air.

"Atmosphere hostile!" They shrieked as they died.

"Not half as hostile as me!" She yelled as Charles came into view.

"Miss Thorn!" he bent over, gasping from his flight, "Downstairs, the Doctor-"

"Listen to me, listen. These things, they're made of gas. Douse all the flames, but turn up the gas, do you understand? Every flame out, but all the gas turned up, high as possible!"

"But why?" Charles said, still breathing heavily.

"It'll draw them out, give me time to get to the Doctor." She replied. "And Charles, once you're done, get the hell out of here!"

"What are you going to do?" Charles asked, alarmed.

"What every good wife does when she finds a crack in her wall." She grinned. "I'm gonna renovate."

She practically flew down the stairs, dousing the lamps as she went. Already she could taste the gas in the air, coating the back of her throat. She would have to be quick.

She stopped when she caught sight of the Doctor, trapped in the arch, head down, clearly unconscious yet still in pain.

"Oh, my Doctor. My poor, poor Doctor."

She walked forward. Ignoring the angry red entities that swirled in the gases around her, she placed her hands on either side of the Doctor's face. The energy from the rift sent jolts down her arms, but she ignored that too, as she closed her eyes and did something she had not done in a very long time.

She summoned Bad Wolf.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

_The Doctor continued to stumble through the red haze, becoming more and more anxious. He remembered what had happened, now. _

_The Gelph. _

_Gemma had warned him, but he hadn't listened, and the Gelph had betrayed him._

_He was caught in the doorway, no...he WAS the doorway, and he had to get out, had to stop them, but how?_

_He couldn't find his way out._

_Suddenly, up ahead he could see the faintest of golden glows._

_Decision made, he stumbled towards it._

_Anyplace was better then the blood soaked ravages of his own mind._

_He finally made his way closer, the golden glow taking shape before him._

_It was a child. Entirely golden, glowing, yet perfectly formed and so very small. Four, perhaps, or five, with delicate golden features, and a smooth, short bob._

_Standing beside her was the Wolf._

_Also made entirely of gold, it was tall, it's shoulders easily an inch above the girls head, and it snarled and snapped at any passing Gelph that flew too near the girl. Gradually, a circle was clearing around them that no passing Gelph dared to enter._

"_We do not have much time." The child's voice was lilting, musical and so very young._

"_You must hurry. I cannot stay here long."_

"_Who are you?" The Doctor knelt before the little girl, a wary eye of the wolf, who eyed him back watchfully._

"_I am the Valiant Child." She replied. "And she is Bad Wolf."_

"_That's a big name for such a little girl." The Doctor replied._

_She tilted her head at him and smiled slightly. "I have others. I'll tell you some day."_

"_I'd like that." He replied. "Do you know the way out?" He asked._

"_Yes." She held out her hand, and he took it without thinking._

_She stared up at him. "You are going to have to trust me this time." She said._

"_This time?" He looked down at her inquiringly._

"_On three?" She said, ignoring his question._

"_One..." She started_

"_Two..." _

"_Wait, what do I do?" He cried_

"_Hold on." She replied._

"_Three."_

He landed on the floor with a jarring thud, blearily registering Gemma's anxious face above him.

"Morning sunshine!" She cried, hauling him to his feet, only to sway herself a moment later.

"Gas!" The Doctor cried. "You've filled the room with gas!"

"Try the whole...house." She gasped, fatigue etching her face. "We gotta move. Bomb...set...upstairs..."

Her knees started to buckle and the Doctor pulled her into him arms.

"Better watch the show from a distance then , eh?" He said, as he helped her up the stairs.

His respiratory bypass had kicked into, double filtering the oxygen in his blood, but the aftershocks from the Rift energy were still thrumming through him, making him a bit unsteady himself.

But Gemma looked even worse, face pale, eyes barely open. She was gasping and coughing, a blue tinge to her lips that scared the Doctor. She almost seemed physically smaller than she had been an hour ago, like ten pounds had just magically walked away.

"You with me, Gemma-Gemma Thorn?" The Doctor asked as they pushed through the kitchen.

"Always." Her words were the barest of whispers and panic gave him strength as he gave up on assisting her and settled for grabbing her up in his arms and running.

They made it clear with just moments to spare, watching as the explosion lit the night sky. He still held her in his arms, and he looked down at her, watching her face as she watched the flames. She looked very young at that moment.

"It was you." The Doctor realized out loud.

"Down there, in my head, that was you, wasn't it." It wasn't a question, not really, and she didn't bother to reply. She also didn't seem to be very bothered by being in his arms, another fact the Doctor filed away for later.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The next morning, they were arguing yet again, though this time it was in the Tardis console room.

"What do you mean, you're staying in Cardiff?" The Doctor asked incredulously as he stared at her.

At his insistence, she had spent the night in the Tardis infirmary, where he had run every conceivable scan he could think of on her.

The only answers it had provided to him were signs of a mild concussion and exhaustion, however.

Though her DNA did show the classic signature tell-tales of time travel.

Looking at her scans nearly drove the Doctor crazy, he could tell there was something off, something different, but he couldn't put his finger on it. And she wouldn't answer any questions about what had happened in the morgue, or in his head.

At her insistence, he had kept the Tardis parked parked in Victorian Cardiff, as opposed to a holding pattern in the vortex as he would have preferred.

And now she was finishing an "Entry" as she referred to it in her diary.

"There." she snapped the book closed.

"Mind if I take a look at that?" The Doctor said, attempting to sound off hand.

"Nice try , Mister." She replied, smiling. "As River would say, 'Spoilers'!"

"Can't wait meet this River of yours." The Doctor grumbled.

"You say that now." She laughed, standing up. "Well, then. I'm off."

"You can't really mean to leave, not now that..." He trailed off awkwardly.

"Now that what?" She asked with a smile.

He scowled, "You know what, Gemma Thorn. You know my name. Something had to happen, something very specific had to happen for you to know my name."

"I know that. But you and I are out of order, and we won't sync up for quite a while, by my guess. And as for that other thing, well..." She trailed off.

"Let's just say I haven't got to that chapter yet either."

"What?" He said, his voice echoing off the console room walls.

She winced. "Yeah, I sorta got a sneak preview, you might say. MAJOR SPOILERS."

"So, that's it then, you're just going to walk out that door, same old boring life...just going to...what, walk away?"

She laughed. "Haven't you figured it out by now Doctor?" She shook her head at him as she walked out the door.

"I'm not walking away from you. I'm walking back to you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes:**

**Yea! So I have always loved loved loved this episode. I just always imagined it with the addition of a certain blonde, if you get my drift.**

**I know this was originally one of ten's episodes, but for my storyline, it just worked that it would be next. To warn you, the longer the story continues, the more the episodes will stray from their original order. I spent an entire weekend working out the order of chapters/episodes, just to make sure none of my plot lines have crossed, and I think I have it down pretty good. This story is set from the Doctor's point of view, in that events are happening in the order they are happening to him, just like the show. So if Gemma says or does anything, and you're not sure why, I promise-promise-promise it will make sense in time.**

**Not a whole lot of reviews yet, but perhaps that's normal for the Who fandom? Maybe my SPN readers have me spoiled, they tend to review more often. I will say that there are a lot of different plotlines going on in this story, and reviews help me catch plot holes before they get too big, so if you get a moment, drop me a line!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. Not even his meta-crisis clone.**

**The Unwritten Line- Chapter Three**

**"Thin Air"**

Marci Jones was having a horrible morning.

Correction, a horrible day.

Her estranged parents were fighting (again), her siblings were egging them on (as usual) and some strange blond girl had accosted her in the street this morning, nearly making her late, grabbing her hand and marking a big black "X" across the back of it, which wouldn't come off no matter how much she scrubbed.

Now, to top it all off, here she was in rounds, next to present, all the other third years were staring, waiting for her prognosis, and she was officially NEVER going to become a Doctor.

Because either she was madder than the hatter, or the smiling man in the jumper and black leather jacket lounging cross-legged on the bed in front of her had two heartbeats.

Two.

Heartbeats.

What an absolutely horrible day.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma Thorn rubbed the bridge of her nose wearily, then winced, wishing she hadn't as she glanced down at her wrapped wrist.

It throbbed dully, and she considered asking the gaggle of med students she could see flocking down the hallway out of the mens' ward if she might have some pain medicine, but the voice at the other end of the line interrupted her train of thought.

"And RJ is going absolutely ballistic, says sabbatical or not, if you end up in the hospital, he shoulda been called. Personally, I think his pride's just hurt that he isn't on your emergency call list." Gwen Cooper finished, a trace of a smirk in her voice, her Welsh accent doing little to hide it.

"He IS on my emergency call list, that is, for work related calls, anyway. But this was just a little thing, a fender bender, nothing really. This nice man, this poor nice man, name's Charlie, get's a call at work, his wife, Moira's gone into early labor...first time dad, nervous wreck, get's a lead foot, runs a red..."

"Smack dab into you?" Gwen finished. "Some day off..."

"I think it was worse for him, though. He was so nervous. Took one look at me and went as pale as if he'd seen a ghost. Apparently I'm a dead look-alike for his wife."She laughed wryly.

"Well, they say everybody has a twin. So, what's the damage?" Gwen asked.

"Not too bad..." Gemma murmured, turning to look at out the window.

The clouds had gathered quickly, and she watched as water streamed down the windowpane. "Couple bruises, bumped my head. Broke my wrist, but it had already started to heal by the time the paramedics got there. They wrote it off as a sprain." She said, experimentally flexing her wrist, then grimacing. Not quite there yet.

"Wish I healed as fast as you." Gwen replied, sounding somewhat out of breath.

Gemma frowned. "Gwen, where are you, are you running?"

"Oh, you know what downtown traffic's like at lunchtime. I had to drop off some paperwork to Rhys at work, to reserve the hall for the reception." Gwen gasped, but even over the phone, Gemma could hear her smile.

Gemma smiled. "Getting close now..what, three months?"

"I know, I know...it's insane. I"M INSANE." Gwen sighed. "But it's a good insane. It's a happy kind of insane, you know?"

"Oh, I agree completely. All the best people are a little insane. AND they usually work or me." Gemma joked.

"Since I'm down here anyway, how 'bout I bring you some decent food? Hospital foods always rubbish. Salt free, sugar free, taste free..." Gwen trailed off.

"Gwen?" Gemma said a moment later, when the silence had started to drag on awkwardly. "We get disconnected?"

"Gemma..." She replied, a cautious note entering her voice. "Have you looked outside?"

"No, been lazing here on the bed all morning since they admitted me. Waiting on RJ's Gran to bring me some jim-jams, why?" Gemma replied, sitting up, alerted by Gwen's tone, which had gone from pleasure to business in a heartbeat.

"You know, how in cartoons, when a character gets mad, they draw this big crazy thundercloud over their heads?" Gwen said vaguely, as if her mouth was having difficulty translating what her mind was seeing.

"Um, yeah, sure, I guess." Gemma said, crossing back to her window to look out at the storm. "So, what? It's not raining everywhere then, not where you are?"

"No, just you, just the hospital...Lord, Gemma...have you seen the rain?" Gwen's voiced had pitched upward, and Gemma rushed to the window.

A pause, and then "Gemma... is the rain...?" Gwen's voice echoed with disbelief.

"It's moving up." Gemma confirmed, one part grim, the other part giddy. Though her sabbatical had been a necessary evil, as she was still learning her own company, not to mention her 'other work', she had been frightfully bored recently.

She'd never dealt with this particular scenario before.

Anything could happen...

Wasn't there a balcony by the patients lounge?

And then the hospital started shaking, light's flashing, furniture crashing around, screams echoing in the halls. Gemma fell to her knees, a reluctant scream escaping from her own throat as she tried to catch herself with her wounded wrist, as her phone clattered to the ground.

And then she was kneeling in her hospital room, holding her newly re-broken wrist, bathed in the earth light.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

"No, don't open it, we'll lose all the air!" Irianna screamed, somewhat hysterically, a hysteria that seemed to be shared by nearly everyone in the hospital, as sobs and screams could be heard drifting down the corridors.

Marci paused in her actions, looking at her friend. "Iri, we're on the bloody moon! The MOON! It's not like the windows are actually airtight, they weren't exactly made with this sort of thing in mind!"

She turned to look out the window, shivering a little, it had started to get colder quickly. The loss of the heat only proved her point, the hospital had never been designed for space travel.

"So, what ARE we breathing?" She murmured to herself. "Why aren't we dead?"

"Fantastic question!"A voice said behind her, startling the two young women. Marci spun around, eyes narrowing.

It was that _man_, that man who made made her look like a complete _idiot _a few hours ago during rounds.

The man with two heart beats.

Which suddenly seemed a lot less crazy.

"What do you know about this?" She demanded, suddenly suspicious.

The man paused in the middle of shrugging on his black leather jacket. "Me?" He ran his head over his close cropped dark hair. "Not a thing. I was just passing through. Noticed the plasma coils around the base of the hospital, got curious, S'all." He shrugged. "Figured something might be going on inside, so I admitted myself." He winked at Marci.

"Though..." He slowly walked over to join Marci and Iri at the windows. "Had I known we were going to be moon walking today, I would've pack a suit." Suddenly, he frowned. "Come to think of it, I better pick up a new suit. Last planet I used it, they had this rule about only hoping on one foot. Tricky, mind you, in a space suit. It's got a hole now..." He trailed off, noticing the wide eyed stares the two girls were giving him.

"You're mad..." Marci whispered, backing up a step. "We're on the moon, and your acting like you've just gone to the market, and realized you've forgotten your list!" Her voice had risen an octave, and suddenly Iri burst into tears, sliding down the wall to wrap her arms around her legs.

"Right, Sorry. Tend to wander a bit if you don't keep me focused. Back to your original, and did I mention, really fantastic question" He looked back out the window.

"Why aren't we dead?" He turned to her, suddenly grinning. "Let's find out!" He turned to Marci. "Is there a balcony on this floor?" He asked her.

Thinking for a moment, she said "Yes, over by the patient lounge."

The doctor grinned. "Let's go. Oh, Sorry, what was your name?"

Marci blinked, swallowing hard. "Um, Marci. I'm Marci Jones."

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma stood just inside the doors to the second floor balcony, an incredulous grin on her face.

She had missed this. Really, really missed it.

Best. Car Accident. _Ever_.

"And why am I not even surprised." The voice, with just the barest of a northern accent (and didn't she know better than to point it out a second time round!) came from behind her, and she turned with a wide smile.

"You know, typically, when you come to visit a girl in the hospital, you bring flowers." She quipped, cataloging his features silently and trying to guess just where this Doctor was in his own personal time line. He knew who she was, at least, which was a start, but this was the earliest of his regenerations that she interacted with, and that always made her wary.

The black jumper and dark, short hair always made her heart ache a little, for it was so familiar, and so alien to her all at once.

Her first Doctor...

Looking to the pretty young woman standing behind the Doctor, she raised a brow and said, "Unless you were visiting someone else?"

His eyes widened as he whipped around to look at the girl, and then back at Gemma again, almost guiltily...

"What? NO!, No, no, I was just checking out the plasma coils..." He trailed off somewhat awkwardly.

She arched a brow. "Umm-huh. Right. Back to this issue at hand." She gestured at the doors.

"Can you think of any reason why I shouldn't?" She asked, fingers itching to turn the knob. She looked back at the other two as the Doctor began to shake his head.

"Nope, as Marci said, oh, right. Sorry again-" The Doctor's eyes went wide again as he quickly made introductions. "Marci Jones, meet Gemma Thorn. Gemma, meet Marci Jones, who pointed out, rather fantastically, I might add, that this place isn't exactly air-tight."

Gemma had been studying Marci intently. Suddenly, she smiled as she reached out to shake Marci's hand, "Exactly what I was thinking, Marci."

Suddenly, Marci frowned. "Hold on, you're the woman from this morning!"

Gemma smiled a little uncertainly. "That's right, I was admitted this morning." She held up her wrapped wrist, waving it gently for emphasis.

Marci shook her head. "No, down on Chancellor Street! You walked right up to, grabbed my hand, and wrote this big black "X" on it! All you said was- 'Like so." and you just...swanned off."

She waved her own hand in Gemma's face for emphasis. "It won't come off! I've got a party tonight!"

Gemma frowned, flicking her eyes over to the Doctor, who just shrugged. "Really? Wonder why I did that? Best not to try and wash it off, though. Might come in handy."

"How's a big black "X" gonna help us on the moon-" Marci started, staring back and forth at the two of them, "Who are you people?"

"I told you, this is Gemma Thorn. And I'm the Doctor." The Doctor smiled, waiting for it.

Gemma sighed, smiling at the Doctor indulgently. "Go on, you might as well say it. He'll pout until you do."

"Doctor Who?" Marci said in confusion, gesturing with her hands in frustration.

"Just the Doctor." He grinned, rocking back on his heels.

"Well, I'm not calling you that." Marci scowled fiercely. "I'm gonna be a Doctor, someday, but cause I earned it, not cause I like the sound of it."

Gemma whistled, impressed. Same Marci Jones. No wonder RJ was over the moon for her, pun completely intended. "Oohh, I like her. Better get to work, Doctor."

"Right." He frowned slightly put out. "But for the record, Miss Jones, I am incredibly impressive."

Gemma laughed. "Go on, talk is cheap." She said, ignoring his scowl.

With a flourish, he opened the patio doors, and they stepped out into the Earthlight, shivering a little as the temperatures continued to fall.

"We have air." The Doctor announced.

"No heat though..." Gemma murmured as she walked further out to grasp the balcony railing with her good hand. The sight was awe-inspiring, as it always was.

"But how? How do we have air?" Marci said.

"I don't care..." Gemma said, smiling up at the earth above.

"And like Gemma said, no heat. Air, but no heat. I wonder..." The Doctor said, mostly to himself.

Grabbing a small stone off the patio's floor, he pitched it into the sky, only for it to bounce back at them off of some invisible barrier. "Thought so. There's a force field, like a big bubble around the hospital, holding the air in.

"Don't care." Gemma repeated, still smiling.

"But if that's like a bubble, holding the air in, then that means this is all the air we have..." Marci began fearfully.

Suddenly Gemma whooped, jumping up and pumping her good fist in the air. "Woo-hoo!"

She paused, suddenly realizing the other two were staring at her, Marci wide eyed, the Doctor smiling faintly.

She flushed, smiling and sheepish. She covered her face partially with her good hand, giggling.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry, it's just...We're on the moon! The MOON. All the places I've been, all the things I've seen...Never been to the moon." She shrugged. "Been to other moons, but not ours, you know. Our Moon. You're a kid, you look up in the sky, _bam_, there it is, the moon. And now, here I am..." She quieted, realizing she'd been rambling.

But to her delight, Marci grinned back at her. "I know, right? We're like astronauts...only without the suits and with a dwindling air supply." Her smiled faded, and Gemma grimaced.

"Yeah, that part, not so much fun." She turned to the Doctor. "You really have no idea how we got here?" She said, back to business.

He frowned. "I know how we got here, just not why. That rain, when it started going upward, that was a H2O scoop." The girls just nodded, having no idea what he meant.

"But what I don't know is why." He said thoughtfully.

"I think you mean _WHO_." Gemma said, pointing to the three dark rocket-like ships as they streaked across the sky, coming to a slow landing a quarter of a mile or so from where the hospital now sat.

The Doctor frowned again. "I should known." He said grimly, as two columns of large, hulking figures starting streaming out of each ship, marching toward the hospital. "Gemma, want to take a guess?"

"Never seen the like." She shrugged. It was true, she hadn't, in any of the three universes she had now lived in.

"Judoon." He said darkly.

"Judoon?" Gemma asked, confusion in her voice. Though she didn't recognize the aliens personally, both Jack and the Doctor had mentioned the Judoon on occasion. "I thought they were peacekeepers, the enforcers of the Shadow Proclamation."

"They are, sort of." The Doctor replied. "But the problem with the Judoon is that they only ever see things in black and white, no middle ground with them, and they're awful thick, if you get my meaning."

He nodded at the hospital around them. "That's why they took the hospital. Moon's neutral territory."

"Which brings us back to the 'why', and in the meantime, we're running out of air." Gemma said, all traces of laughter gone. "Marci, how many people in this hospital?" She asked, chewing her lip.

Thinking for a moment, Marci replied " About a thousand, I guess."

"A thousand people suffocating to death." The Doctor whispered, a bleak look coming over his face.

"Right, fun's over, time to sort this out. Let's go, follow us Marci!" He said with authority.

He turned to go, and without thinking, he grabbed Gemma's hand. He was caught completely off guard by her cry of pain, as she swayed and then went down to her knees, face gone suddenly white.

"What is it, what's wrong?" The Doctor asked in confusion as he knelt beside her.

"Her wrist is sprained, you idiot!" Marci snapped at him as her own inner Doctor took over and she knelt beside Gemma. "How did you miss the bright pink bandage?"

The Doctor stared at the two off them, guilt written across his face. "I thought it was just a disguise."

Gemma laughed a little hysterically as she did her best to ride out the pain. "A ...DISGUISE?" She finally managed after a second.

"I have...psychic paper, Doctor." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to center herself like she'd been taught in Torchwood Training years ago.

"If I'd...wanted to...sneak into the hospital... you think I'd pretend to be a patient?' She asked. "How ridiculous is that?" She asked, looking down at her injured arm.

"Right, ridiculous, of course." The Doctor agreed, refusing to meet Marci's eyes over Gemma's bent head. "Better let me have a look." He said quickly, attempting to change the subject.

Marci snorted.

"No, no, it's fine." Gemma waved him off with her good hand. "Marci can re-wrap it, you go ahead, the Judoon are already here, go find out what they want, we'll be right behind you." She said, cradling her injured arm close to her chest.

"You sure?" The Doctor said, curiosity warring with guilt on his face.

"A platoon, of Judoon, on the moon?" Gemma dead-panned. "I'm pretty sure. Now, shift."

He ran off, as Marci attempted to unwrap Gemma's hand as gently as she could.

She sucked in a breath when she had finished, though.

"Gemma, this isn't just sprained, it's broken!" She exclaimed, horrified. How had the doctor who admitted her not noticed, when she could tell just by looking at it...

"I know." Gemma said. "It was already injured when I fell on it when the hospital moved. But we're running out of time and air, so wrap it tight, and let's find the Doctor."

"You don't want the Doctor to know?" Marci guessed, trying to sound out the strange relationship between Gemma and this Doctor-person.

"He doesn't handle that sort of thing too well." Gemma replied.

"Injuries?" Marci asked in confusion. Why was he called the Doctor then, she wondered.

"Damage." Gemma corrected. "When you run with the Doctor, you don't let him see the damage. The whole world rides on his shoulders. I can either be a help him or be a hindrance, and damned if I'm gonna be the princess in this story."

"It'll need to be set, later, it looks like an ugly break." Marci said doubtfully.

Gemma bit her lip, "Well, we'll deal with that when we're back on solid ground, yeah?"

"Alright..." Marci said, doing her best to re-wrap it gently but firmly, as Gemma turned even whiter and sweat started to bead her brow. "But it's gonna need a cast, later."

"Absolutely." Gemma agreed, taking a deep breath, and heaving herself to her feet. "OK, lobby. Better hurry."

They made their way through the damage and confusion in the halls, joining the Doctor to crouch behind the railing of the second floor where it overlooked the lobby.

Patients and staff were screaming and cowering, as the Judoon filed in and took strategic places around the room. Finally, one who appeared to be in charge stepped into the center of the room, removing his helmet.

"Oh my God." Marci breathed as quietly as she could, staring at the alien. It stood upright, like a man, but was easily over eight feet tall, and it's face...

They were Rhinos. Giant, walking, talking space RHINOS.

"Flo Bo Cho Go No!" The leader called out, as if awaiting a response.

Marci's eyes widened.

Even better.

They were giant walking-talking-RHYMING space rhinos.

Perhaps the lack of oxygen was starting to get to her...

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The Doctor's attention was split between watching the brave young blond medical student attempt to welcome the Judoon to planet earth, and watching Gemma as she listened to the Judoon's speech patterns, watching as she assimilated their language. Catching him watching her she frowned.

"Having a bit of trouble with the accent." She admitted, chewing her lip again.

"You understand what they're saying?" Marci said incredulously, looking back and forth once again between her strange new friends..

"I will in a moment. Been a while since I traveled." Gemma replied, closing her eyes in order to better concentrate on the Judoon's words.

"We'll all know in a minute." The Doctor said (though, of course, he not only spoke Judoon, but had the Tardis's translation software working in active real time inside his head).

They watched as the Judoon Leader stuck a maroon cylinder into his suit.

"Language assimilated." He said, suddenly speaking in a clear, unaccented English. "Designation: Sol. 3."

He strode forward, pinning the young man against the wall and raising some sort of small scanner to his forehead. "Base scan acquired. Designation: Human. All subjects to be cataloged. Locate the transgressor. Troops Two and Four to the upper levels. Commence catalog."

"Doctor?" Gemma said questioningly, "Why do they need a base scan?"

"They're looking for someone." The Doctor explained, hurriedly. "Someone non-human. Look" He nodded down below as the Judoon started to scan people, marking a large black "X" on their hands as they did so.

"A big black "X" on the moon..." Gemma whispered, looking at a wide-eyed Marci.

"So, we don't really have a problem, then, right? We're human..." Marci trailed off as the other two exchanged glances.

Gemma met the Doctors eyes uncertainly.

She had no idea what her scans would reveal...

"You're fine." The Doctor reassured her. "If the Tardis's scanners couldn't find any readable discrepancies, the Judoon's certainly won't find any."

"But you're not!" Gemma hissed back worriedly. Then her eyes narrowed.

"And just when the hell did you scan me with the Tardis?" She said, mild outrage in her voice.

"1869." He replied smartly, doing his best to curve his back and shoulders around the two crouched women as patients screamed and surged around them, a living, panicked tidal wave.

"What? No, don't tell me, dammit. We're out of order. Again!" She cursed quietly.

"Wouldn't have happened if you'd come with me!" The Doctor pointed out.

"Well, it's a good thing I did, _since I'm apparently already there_!" She hissed back, pressing her lips together in a frustrated face.

"Oh my god." Marci said, looking back and forth between the two of them. "You're aliens...two hearts...you're Aliens!"

"She's not." The Doctor said, nodding towards Gemma."That's what I just said."

"Hmmm..." Gemma made an awkward face. "Let's just say, for the sake of honesty. that I'm human 2.0." Gemma qualified. "He definitely IS alien, though. Two hearts and everything."

"But you look human-" Marci started, only to be interrupted by a Judoon soldier. As his scanner ran across the Doctor's forehead, it made a jarring, discordant sound.

"Not. Human." The Judoon soldier declared in it's deep, gravelly voice.

"And...now I'm shutting up." Marci said.

"Run!" The Doctor cried, making sure to grab Gemma by her good arm, and Marci with his other, as he took off down the hall.

After five minutes, they had run long enough that they were confident no one was looking for them (for the moment at least.) The Judoon might be large, but they weren't exactly spry.

"Alright." Gemma said, panting and cradling her bad arm against her chest. She didn't notice the Doctor eying her worriedly. "So, there's an alien, _another_ alien..." She corrected herself.

"Hiding here, in the hospital." Marci finished for her.

"So, all we have to do is keep you out of their way until they catch the other one, yeah?" Gemma asked the Doctor hopefully.

"Not good enough." The Doctor said bluntly. "If no one's noticed the other alien walking around by now, it's probably some sort of shape-changer. Probably looks as human as us. If the Judoon scanners don't locate it, they'll declare the whole hospital guilty of aiding a fugitive."

"Meaning?" Gemma prompted.

"They'll sentence the whole hospital to death." The Doctor replied grimly.

"Let's find an alien then." Gemma said, without missing a beat. "Marci, where could I access patient files, patients admitted sometime in..." She glanced at the Doctor, who nodded. "Say... the last week."

Marci looked around, gaining her bearings. "Down the hall. There's an Admin office right around the corner."

"On it." Gemma said, jogging off.

"Marci, listen to me carefully. Gemma's already marked your hand, you're as good as invisible to the Judoon. Gemma and I will locate the alien, but in the meantime, you have help the rest of them. Start going door to door. Calm everyone down. They won't get hurt as long as they cooperate. Have the nurses start passing out blankets, we're losing heat, not just air. And turn off anything that doesn't need to be on, try and save the generators long as possible. How much portable oxygen would the hospital have on hand?" He asked.

"Not enough." She replied immediately.

"Maybe so, but by the time we're done, every breath's gonna count. Tell the other staff. Set any oxygen tanks not being used on a critical patient to a slow leak, try and stretch it, alright? I'm gonna help Gemma." The Doctor instructed. "Try and buy us as much time as you can."

"Got it." Marci nodded, starting to get up.

"Marci?" She stopped and looked at him.

"How bad is it?" The Doctor said, jerking his head in the direction Gemma had gone in a moment before.

It took her a second to catch on. "Her arm?" She shrugged. "It's...it's fine."

"Marci." The Doctor said, voice stern.

She pressed her lips together. "I'd have her in surgery an hour ago." She replied.

"Whatever was wrong before, it's definitely broken now, and badly. She fell on it when they scooped us up. I'm not sure how she's walking straight." Marci said, hoping she was doing the right thing by telling the Doctor about Gemma's injuries.

"Thanks." He said, turning to follow Gemma.

"Who is she?" Marci asked. "I mean, to you? Just who is she?"

He opened his mouth, shut it, then opened it again.

"I don't know." He said finally.

"Well, don't lose her." Marci said. "Because...I think you need her."

"I think you're right." He said, jogging off.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma frowned at the computer screen, wishing she had a third hand to smack it with. Were all computers this slow?

"You know, when you mentioned visiting the moon, I had something other in mind." The Doctor said conversationally, as he leaned over her shoulder, watching her work.

"When was that, then?" She asked, one part of her mind still focused on the various search algorithms she was running using what passed as the hospital's mainframe.

"Cardiff. 1869." He replied, watching her face.

She made a moue of disgust. "Cardiff? God, I hate that bloody rift. Don't say anymore though. Spoilers."

"Yeah, you mentioned us being out of order. Had a mauve leather book with you, called it your diary, sound familiar?"

"Mauve? Hmmm, sounds dangerous." She replied. "Yes, it's a trick I picked up from River. If you think we're bad...Never know when she's gonna pop up." She paused and said "You should think about keeping one too, you know. Pretty sure things are gonna get crazier before they get better."

He snorted. "Diary? Me? Don't hold your breath."

She just smiled. "If you say so, Doctor. But I gotta tell you, this is gonna be one hell of an entry."

He smiled down at her head. "You know, if you really wanted the moon that bad, you should have just asked. I would have just got it for you. Would have saved you a trip."

She chuckled. "Flirt. You're worse than Jack, I swear. Besides, miss all this?"

She nodded out the window at the Earth in the distance. "Not for the world." She smiled. "Hell of a first date. All we're missing is the chips-oh, er, fries. Never get the hang of that." She muttered

A minute later- "Ooh, Doctor, tell me I'm pretty." She said, as lists and patient files started popping up on the screen.

"You're pretty good at that one-handed." He said, watching her as her fingers flew across the board.

"Better with two." She said, speed reading line after line of code. "But yeah, you might say I took a sorta crash course once."

"Musta been a hell of a class." He said, impressed despite himself as he watched her work.

"Oh, it was..." She murmured. "Doctor, look at these records here, from the blood bank-"

Suddenly, the screen went blank, Gemma cursing as she tried to regain control.

"It's the Judoon. They wiped it. Said they were thick." The Doctor said, mind racing. "Shift over, I'll try to use my sonic on it."

"Here, try mine. Use setting Echo-Ivy-Stormlight-Neon." She handed him hers.

"That's a hell of a system." The Doctor commented.

"Basic Reset Function. Heck of an override, mind you don't blow it up." She said.

"Like I'd blow up a perfectly good sonic screwdriver." He muttered. "Where you off to?"

"That head Doctor, uh, what's his name...Stoker. He's head of medicine. His computer might have had a battery back up, may have stopped the system from crashing."

"Be careful." He called after her, already getting to work on the computer's hard drive.

Gemma jogged down the hall, watchful for any Judoon. Whatever the Doctor might say, she wasn't really one-hundred percent human, not thanks to Bad Wolf.

Normal humans didn't heal at three times the normal speed, normal humans aged over the years.

But super human non-aging powers aside, she was pretty sure the Judoon could manage to do a proper job of killing her.

Best avoid that.

She didn't bother to knock, throwing open the door to the Head of Medicine's office.

However, what she caught sight of inside had her stopping dead in her tracks.

It was the creepy woman who had been down the hall from her. Mrs. Finnegan. Gemma hadn't been able to pin point why she had given he the creeps, so she had shaken it off as an after effect of her wreck.

Now however, she could practically feel Bad Wolf snarling a frightened growl in her head, a warning she didn't need.

The bloody straw in the woman's hand and the corpse at her feet were quite enough, thank you.

"Get her!" She commanded the two helmeted and black clad figures Gemma hadn't noticed till that moment.

"Wrong room!" Gemma cried, slamming the door behind her as she took of towards the Doctor.

She nearly ran into him as he came out of the office, "Reset worked, might have found her-"

"Don't need it, run-run-run!" Gemma cried, as she yanked the Doctor behind her.

"Who from?" The Doctor called as he ran after her obediently.

"Mrs. Finnegan-bad guy-bloody straw-dead guy-being chased." Gemma cried, becoming winded. The air was getting so thin, even Bad Wolf wasn't much help in a situation like this.

"Internal shape shifter." The Doctor said grimly as he kept pace beside her. "Probably a plasmavore."

"Whatever." She agreed, losing speed as it became harder to catch her breath.

Realizing she wasn't good for much more running, the Doctor improvised, pushing them into the x-ray room. Shoving her into the walled off area meant for the technician, he tossed her back her sonic and pulled out his own. "Stay in there, don't come out till I say, and get ready to push the button when I yell!"

"Which button?" She panted, blinking away hazy spots in her vision.

"No idea, better find out quick though." He called, flicking on his sonic and making some sort of adjustments to the machine.

"Find it quick..." She mouthed to herself as she looked frantically for the operators manual. Spotting it, she pulled it down, nearly dropping the huge tome as she tried to manage it one-handed.

She didn't have time for this, she thought as she skimmed the chapter of contents, she could hear footsteps approaching the door...

"Gemma..." The Doctor called out warningly.

Suddenly closing her eyes, she decided to put some of Bad Wolf's frantic energy to good use. Holding her hand over the book (and hoping the Doctor didn't notice) she opened her eyes, which now shone with small, swirling flecks of golden light.

Blinking suddenly, the golden light gone as quickly as it had come, she flipped the book open to the needed page.

Oh look, she thought, they even drew her a diagram.

Complete with a big, friendly button.

Her favorite.

"Now!" The Doctor called as the black clad figure burst through the door, and she slammed her good hand down on the large green button.

The room lit with light and sound, and Gemma instinctively shielded her eyes. When she dropped her arm, the black clad figure was lying unmoving on the ground.

"Did you kill him?" She asked, a little alarmed at the thought. The Doctor had always abhorred killing.

"It was never alive, not really." The Doctor reassured her.

Kicking the body for emphasis, he said "They're called slabs, look, made entirely of leather."

"Hell of a fetish." Gemma muttered, and the Doctor grinned at her.

"You're really something, you know that?" He said.

She grinned her tongue in cheek smile at him. "I got a friend, he calls me 'whiskey in a teacup'."

"I'd believe that." The Doctor said. Standing, he said, "Tell me the rest, now, quickly."

She nodded. "It was Mrs. Finegan. Older woman, pink bathrobe. Dr. Stoker was on the floor, dead, and she had this straw thing in his neck like she was..." She trailed off. Even with all her experiences, it was a bit much for her.

"Definitely a plasmavore. And if's she's just fed, the scanners won't identify her. We'll have to show her to the Judoon ourselves."

He went to pull his sonic out of the x-ray machine. When he did, however, it was little more than a melted metal stick.

"I blew up the sonic." He said, completely aghast. He looked at Gemma. She rolled her eyes.

"Right then, this way." They took off, a fast walk the most Gemma could manage in the thinning air.

All around them they could see patients and staff, wrapped in blankets and starting to slow down, sitting and in some cases already starting to fall asleep.

"What about you then?" He said, looking her up and down.

"Me?" She shook her head. "With this much adrenaline, I couldn't sleep if I tried-" She was suddenly cut off as the Doctor pulled her to the side, crouching behind a cart as two Judoon walked by.

"What about them?" She whispered, jerking her head towards the space-rhinos.

He shook his head. "Huge lung reserves. They'll outlast me even."

They finally made it to Dr. Stokers office, but it was empty. Gemma cursed. "They were right here! I shouldn't have just run." She hissed, angry at herself.

"Not sure you're up to karate with a broken wrist." He admonished.

She glanced at him guiltily.

"It really did start off as a sprain." She replied defensively.

"You, me, Tardis med-bay, soon as we're Earthside again." Was all he said as they entered the hall.

Looking up and down the corridor, he frowned. "Where could she hide, though? If they don't find her they'll just kill everyone."

"Doctor..." Gemma said warningly as two Judoon turned the corner and walked towards them.

But the Doctor had just caught sight of a sign, down the hall. "The MRI room!" He cried.

"She's a clever one." Turning quickly to Gemma, he said "I know what she's doing, but I'll need some time to stop her. Stall them for me."

"How?" She asked. "You said I'd scan as human."

"Surprise!" The Doctor said, pulling her closer.

And then he kissed her.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

_Holy-Tardis-of-Gallifrey_, Gemma thought, logic and reason scattered in a million pieces as the Doctor proceeded to snog the socks off of her.

Not the sort to let grass grow under her feet, she quickly reciprocated.

She wasn't the only one with a somewhat dazed expression when he finally pulled back.

"Hello." She finally said.

"Yeah." He coughed awkwardly into his hand. "Sorry, that was a...genetic transfer." He said, readjusting his leather jacket.

"Of course it was." Gemma agreed graciously. "Better shift." She said, and the Doctor took off, glad for once she was staying behind.

Gemma grinned at the two oncoming Judoon as they raised their scanners. "Hello boys." She said.

"Non-human traces discovered. Detailed scan required." One replied.

"Oh, I am gonna kill him." She whispered to herself.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The Doctor stumbled into the MRI room. "Never believe what's going on out there." He said conversationally, startling the old women who whipped around, bathrobe flaring out around her.

"Seize him." She ordered to the other slab, who promptly grabbed hold of the Doctor.

"Not a Doctor or anything.." He began... "But is that scanner thing supposed to be shooting off all those large sparks, never seen that before."

She smiled serenely. "That is because you've never met a genius of my caliber." She replied, as the Doctor's eyebrows rose.

"I have increased the power to 500 times Tesla." She boasted.

"Which...is bad, am I right?" The Doctor said, still fishing.

Her smile widened. "It will fry the brain stem of every living being within 250,000 miles." She answered.

"But that'd kill the earth, too!" The Doctor cried, horrified.

"Only the side facing the moon." She replied. "Consider it a solution to the overcrowding issues they are having."

"But why? Won't that kill you too?" He asked.

"I'll be safe and sound in this room." She walked towards him. "And then, when all the Judoon are dead, I'll have access to their spaceships, and my getaway will be complete."

"You're the one they're looking for!" He accused. "They can't find you, so they're rescanning everyone even now!"

"What?" she said, looking disconcerted for the first time since he walked in. "They're re-scanning everyone?"

"That's right. They said 'detailed scans'. That'll put a stop to your nonsense." He cried, struggling against the slab a little.

"Oh, I don't think so." she replied, reaching into her bag to pull out a red straw.

"You see, I'm not just clever, I'm also well prepared. I'm afraid this will hurt. But if it's any consolation, you wouldn't have survived anyway."

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma stared at the ticket in her hands, disbelieving. She ought to file for compensation, just to give one of them the hassle of having to file the paperwork.

She followed the (now) larger group into the MRI room.

"Doctor?" She cried out frantically as she caught sight of him laying motionless on the ground. She tried to lunge forward, but was stopped by one of the Judoon. She looked at Mrs. Finnegan.

"YOU KILLED HIM." She whispered, the words harsh and disbelieving even to her own ears.

She sank to the ground. "Oh god, you killed him, you _drank him..._" Suddenly, she looked up at the plasmavore. "You drank him! That's what he wanted!"

Grabbing a scanner from the nearest Judoon she aimed it at the plasmavore, smiling in triumph at the discordant noise.

"Not human." A gravely chorus rang out.

"You are hereby sentenced to death, for the Murder of the Child Princess of Orious Primus." The leader intoned.

The plasmavore snarled at Gemma. "I never could resist a blond." She said, even as the Judoon fired simultaneously.

Within a second, both she and the second slab were gone, no more than a flash of light burned onto Gemma's retinas.

That was when she noticed the scanner.

"Look there, the scanner, she did something to it!" She cried, pointing. One of them aimed his scanner at it.

"Approaching critical mass." He declared. Speaking into his suits communications system, he said, "All units, retreat immediately, repeat, immediate retreat."

"You can't just LEAVE!" She yelled. "We're here because of you! We're running out of air and I don't know how to stop that thing!" She cried, as tears tracked down her face.

She had crawled to the Doctor, wrapping her arms around him. Her thoughts were already becoming slow and fuzzy, as the lack of oxygen caught up.

"This no longer falls under our jurisdiction." Their leader declared, as they filed out.

"Oh god." She whispered. "Come on Gemma, come on. What to do, we..." she sucked in the deepest breath she could. "We need the Doctor." She said. "Okay, Gemma, do what you do, save...the... Doctor."

Laying him flat, she checked desperately for a pulse.

Nothing.

"Well, this ought to wake me up." She said, steeling herself for what came next.

Doing her best to ignore the waves of pain that literally made her see red, she began chest compressions.

One...two...three...

She checked his pulse again.

"Stupid, so stupid." She gasped. "Two hearts."

She managed it one more time, but knew it was her last shot. Gasping in the deepest breath she could, she bent over, blowing the last of her air into the Doctor's lungs.

A coughing fit had her keeling to one side, even as she head the most beautiful sound she'd ever heard.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The Doctor came to with a coughing start.

Sweet Rassilon that had hurt. Looking around, he flipped over quickly, half crawling to where Gemma lay.

"Gemma..." He croaked.

Her eyes fluttered. "Stop it." Her voice was breathy. "The scanner...gotta..stop it." Her eyes closed and it was with reluctance he pulled away from her, dragging his still half numb body towards the MRI.

It appeared to have nearly reached critical mass, large blue arc's of light shooting off it, dancing across the walls and floors. Had there been any more oxygen in the hospital, it probably would have lit up like a solar flare.

Instinctively, he reached for his sonic, but of course it was gone. He had no idea of the settings on Gemma's, it was better not to even try it.

He didn't have time for finesse, so he found the thickest cord he could, and with a prayer to anyone listening he gave the biggest tug he could, disconnecting the power.

Someone must have been listening, because almost instantly, the blue arcs of light ceased.

He stumbled back over to Gemma, whose chest was hardly moving anymore. "We did it, Gemma-Gemma Thorn. We saved the earth. You and me, first date on the moon."

She was unresponsive, and his jaw tightened. Staggering, he pulled her into his arms, and made his way to the windows. His lungs needed much less oxygen than hers, but it was starting to get difficult, even for him.

Damned if he was leaving her behind though.

Not her.

He stood there, on the patio, watching the Judoon ships take off in the distance.

"Come on." He muttered, willingly them to hear. "Please. You got what you wanted. Reverse it, they're dying, come on..."

Suddenly, a raindrop hit his face, and he looked upwards as he went to his knees, cradling Gemma closer in his arms. It started raining harder, and he started laughing as he whispered in her ear.

"It's raining Gemma Thorn. It's raining, on the moon."

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

She awoke, disoriented in the near darkness. The lights were low, but she didn't need them, as the reassuring hum of the Tardis gently filled her head.

"Guess I'm still alive then." She said as she experimentally sat up.

Gingerly she made her way to the Tardis control room. She took a moment, watching the familiar sight of the Doctor tinkering underneath the Tardis Console.

"How are you feeling?" He called out suddenly, voice echoing off the walls of the control room.

"Good." She said, putting both hands into her pockets. "Really good." She walked towards him and leaned against the rail.

"Probably...too good." She said, lightly accusing.

"Didn't know you could feel 'too good'". The Doctor said, sitting up to face her.

"Well..." She studied him. "Either I've been in your med-bay for at least a week, or you've pulled some serious jiggery-pokery while I was sleeping." She waved her wrist around. "Care to fill me in?"

"Relax." He said standing, and running his sonic over her. Satisfied with the readings, he smiled. "Only been a couple hours."

"Jiggery-pokery, then." She replied, studying his face. "Anything else I need to know?"

"Nope." He replied, smiling at her. "Earth-safe. Judoon-gone. Arm-all better."

"About that...Thank you." She said, serious now.

"You are very welcome. And thank you, back." He said with a slight smile.

She smiled in return. "I _was_ gonna pull the big power cord-looking bit, but then I remembered how much fun you had with that kind of thing."

"It is kinda my thing." He agreed easily.

They stared at each other for a long moment. "Hell of an entry for your diary." He said finally.

"Yeah." She said softly. "About earlier..." She started.

"Funny thing." He interrupted suddenly, his voice going up an octave as she pursed her lips at him in amusement.

"Did a little checking on you, while you were sleeping. For medical reasons, of course." He amended quickly.

"I'll just bet you did." She said over her shoulder as she moved to put the Tardis console in between them.

"But the thing is.." The Doctor continued, following her as they began to circle each other, "Gemma Thorn is a ghost."

"Really?" She replied, as she turned, walking backwards to face him. "How curious."

"No birth certificate. No death certificate. No fingerprints on file with any law enforcement agency. Hardly any photographs." He said.

"House fire." She replied. "Lost everything."

"Every copy?" He said, disbelieving.

"Not my fault if city hall has rubbish records." She said, leaning over the Tardis console towards him.

"Which city hall?" He countered quickly. "What city? What date? When were you born? Where'd you go to school? Who are your parents?"

She looked away. "That was a very long time ago, Doctor."

He came to stand in front of her. "If I wanted to find the childhood of Gemma Thorn...where would I look?" He asked.

She looked away. "I'm afraid I misplaced it. Let me know if you find it. I'd love to get it back."

She started to move away, but he brought both hands down suddenly, effectively trapping her between him and the console.

"Are you married, Gemma?" He said, all playfulness leaving his voice.

She smiled at him. "Ask me when you're older."

His eyebrows rose. "There is the little matter of your ring." He said.

Her eyes widened slightly. "My ring?" She repeated. She glanced down. Delicate and sturdy, a color somewhere between brass and bronze and gold, it was made of two identical strips of metal, melded together so as to be smooth and flat on the inside, but appearing to be wrapped round and around each other on the outside. She had taken to wearing it on the middle finger of her left hand.

He nodded. "Clever bit of work, that. I was taking of look at your arm and the scanners went nuts when they went over it. Not sure how I missed it back in Cardiff. I love a good piece of technology."

"Just a ring." She said, shrugging.

"Just a ring..." He said, "That happens to have a perception filter, self-adjusting sizing, and is apparently made from metal from a Tardis Key."

She shrugged. "I am _always_ losing my keys."

"But not this one." He agreed. "This little beauty is fully equipped. Opens the door to The Tardis just by placing your hand on it. That's how you got in the first time we met. Set to turn warm when it nears the Tardis, or turn cold if it nears itself at any other point in its own time stream. Lock pick, GPS, Paradox Alarm Clock, and you could wear it on any finger you wanted."

"And it's pretty." She added, waggling her fingers at him.

"I'd have to care an awful lot about someone to put that much effort into a ring for them. Someone must really be missing you." He stared at her thoughtfully.

She looked away, unable to meet his gaze. "He wanted me to be very prepared." She said finally. "He knew I was gonna be on my own."

"You're not alone." He replied. "Not if you don't want to be. Come with me." He urged.

"I can't, and I think you're starting to understand why." She said, finally.

"You've time-traveled. A lot." He said.

"Close enough." She agreed. "Things have to happen in the right order, or it could get...ugly."

"How ugly?" He said.

"Paradox the size of Manhattan ugly." She replied.

She smiled. "It's not forever. Just...a while." She moved towards the door. Looking out at the street she turned towards him, curiosity across her face. "Where are we?" She asked.

"Leo Jones' twenty-first birthday party." The Doctor replied.

"Gonna ask her to tag along then? She did pretty good on the moon." She said, studying his face.

He shrugged. "For a first-timer. But yeah, I though a thank-you trip might be in order."

"I agree completely." She said. "In fact, here she comes now."

Marci had spotted them and was now rapidly making her way across the street.

"Where did you go?" She asked. "I looked everywhere? You were just gone, even your computer records were erased!"

Gemma grimaced. "That...might have been me. Easier that way, sorry."

"But your ARM." Marci said, emphatically.

"Oh, no, look see, all better." She held it out for Marci's inspection.

"But...how?" Marci said in disbelief, as she ran her hands up and down Gemma's wrist, feeling for the breaks she knew should be there.

"Marci Jones." Gemma's voice was warm with amusement. "Today, you helped save the lives of over one thousand people. On the moon. You saw rhyming rhinos from space, and met a man with two hearts. My arm is much less interesting. I promise."

She glanced over at the Doctor, afraid she knew exactly how it had been fixed, but if he'd done what she thought, he'd never admit it.

Marci grinned. "I did, didn't I."

She laughed. "I went to the moon."

"About that." The Doctor finally broke in. "I have a ship. A spaceship."

Marci nodded.

"I thought, just to say thanks, mind you..." The Doctor trailed off.

Gemma rolled her eyes. "Marci Jones,would you like to take a trip with the Doctor."

Marci's eyes widened.

"Seriously? You're serious?" She asked.

"I'm always serious." The Doctor said, and Gemma rolled her eyes again.

Suddenly, the light in Marci's eyes died. "But, I can't." she said. "Exams are next week, and my family's a wreck at the best of times." She finished, disappointment lacing her voice.

"About that.." The Doctor said, glancing over at Gemma.

"Did he mention, it's a time machine?" She asked, lips curving in a smile.

"Shut up." Marci replied, and Gemma laughed.

:No, really, it's a...ooh." Gemma turned to the Doctor and laughed.

"This when I do it?" She asked, eyes lighting up.

"Yup." The Doctor replied, rocking back on his heels with a pleased smile.

"Do what?" Marci asked, confused.

Ignoring Marci's question, Gemma said to the Doctor. "I'll need a marker."

"Already ahead of you.: He said, pulling one out of his pocket and handing it to her.

"You wish." Gemma said, heading inside the Tardis, followed by the Doctor.

Marci was left staring in disbelief as the blue phone-box looking thing started making the strangest of noises...

And then it just sort of...faded from existence.

She stared for a moment before turning numbly towards the restaurant ( she needed ANOTHER drink), but whipped around quickly when the noise returned.

The blue box was back, and Gemma and the Doctor tumbled out. "The look on your face." Gemma said, giggling. Holding up Marci's hand to demonstrate, she quickly drew an "X" on the unmarked hand.

"Oh. My. God." Marci said. "You're time travelers. You-this morning-it was you!" She half shrieked and Gemma laughed again, the Doctor joining in.

"But..."Marci started with a frown. "If you just went back to this morning, why didn't you warn me?"

Their faces became serious. "Marci, what happened today,on the moon, that was the best case scenario. We won. Everyone lived, more or less. If we'd accidentally changed one single thing..."

Now the Doctor joined in. "Crossing into established events is strictly forbidden." He said.

"Except for cheap tricks." Gemma added. "Odds are, we would have just made things worse."

"Okay. Alright. Time Travel. Right. But...um, your ship, your _wooden_ ship," Marci said as she rapped smartly on the side, "Looks a little small."

They glanced at each other.

"After you." They said, in unison, gesturing her inside. She made it nearly three steps in before bolting back out, quickly walking around the outside. Lunging back in, she stopped and looked at them with wide eyes.

"Wait for it..." The Doctor whispered.

"It's BIGGER on the inside." She cried, and they fell against each other laughing.

"Love that, just love it." Gemma said.

"It never get's old." The Doctor agreed.

"But...okay, it's bigger..." Marci started

"It's huge!" Gemma interjected . "You should see the pool."

"But where is everyone else?" Marci asked.

They looked at her with equally confused expressions.

"What do you mean?" The Doctor said finally.

"Don't you need , like, a navigator, and a first mate, and a crew and stuff...is it just you two?"

Gemma's eyes widened. "Oh, no, I won't be... I don't travel with...it would just be you and the Doctor." She finished lamely.

Marci looked at her like she was crazy. "You're sending me with on a cruise for two with your boyfriend?"

Gemma looked pained. "It's difficult to explain. We have some things to sort out..." She started.

"I'll come back and get her later." The Doctor said at the same time. At Gemma's glare, he shrugged.

"You're the one who said good luck avoiding you." He said defensively.

"Go." Gemma urged Marci. "He hates traveling alone. He'll take you somewhere great, I promise. And have you back in time for exams. Marci, you were great up there. You'll be great out there, too."

"Haven't been to the Globe in a while." The Doctor said thoughtfully.

"Shakespeare." Marci whispered in awe. "You mean... the Shakespeare?"

"The Bard himself." The Doctor grinned, arching his eyebrows.

"Count me in!" Marci said excitedly.

"Excellent. That would be my cue. Don't destroy London, accidentally marry anyone, or catch the plague!" Gemma called as she made her way to the door.

But just as she reached it, it slammed shut, nearly catching her fingers.

"Doctor?" She whirled around, a question on her face.

He shook his head to indicate he wasn't the one who had shook the door.

"I don't know what's happening!" He cried, running over to the console and yanking a lever.

Suddenly, the engines started. "Don't you dare!" Gemma cried, furious.

"It's not me, it's the Tardis, something's spooked her." He called out, frantically pushing buttons.

Gemma frowned. Quickly crossing over to the console, she placed both hands on it, and listened.

"She's frightened...something's calling...a...distress beacon...a signal-" She was cut of suddenly as they landed with a jerk, the three of them tumbling to the grated floor.

"Everyone all right?" The Doctor called, as he sat up warily

"Where are we?" Gemma said, heading for the door even as the Doctor headed for the display panel.

"Gemma's right, something _is_ issuing a distress beacon, not familiar with the signal though... Sorry Marci, it's not the Globe I'm afraid." The Doctor began.

"Where are we?" Marci asked. "WHEN are we?"

"We only went back a few months, it's 2012 in..." He trailed off as he tried to devise their location.

"Utah." Gemma called from outside of the Tardis. "It's Utah."

Marci and the Doctor looked at each other, bewildered, then headed towards Gemma. There had been a flat tone in Gemma's voice the Doctor hadn't cared for.

They were in some sort of large, windowless room. Display cases extended out as far as they could see, the sight of which was blocked only by the twenty or so armed men in black training their rifles on them.

"Welcome to Utah." The lead gunman said.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: And here is a little Christmas present for everyone. **

**Reviews are love. **

**As Always, **

**EverReader**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**The Unwritten Line – Chapter Four**

**"The Soul of Gemma Thorn"**

Prologue:

"_**Zeus One Approaching, REPEAT ZEUS ONE APPROACHING"**_

The sleek black helicopter landed with quiet elegance, which was more than could be said of it's occupant's exodus.

"That latest session of congress was a joke. I want them replaced!" The lean, balding man walked with the air of someone who has gotten everything they desired for far longer than was good for anyone.

"Which ones, Mr. Van Statten?" Diana, a curly, auburn-haired woman said, clicking her pen, ready to please.

"All of them." He called over his shoulder.

"Of course, Sir." She replied, rolled her eyes behind his back.

"Where's English?" Mr. Van Statten barked.

"Here Sir. Ready when you are, Sir." The young man attempted to discreetly mop his brow. Around him the various members of the security team rolled their eyes.

"I want a full report from Simmons!" Mr. Van Statten continued, without acknowledging the young man man who now trailed in his wake.

Adam and Diana eyed each nervously.

"Sir." Diana finally braved interrupting him.

"What is it, Goddard?" Van Statten barked back, an annoyed expression crossing his face.

Squaring her shoulders, she said. "There's been an...issue. In the vault."

"And?" Van Statten said, impatience lacing his voice.

"We've...captured three intruders, Sir. Nearly half a mile down. On floor 53." She replied nervously. Beside her, the young man shifted from one foot to the other, glad he wasn't the one being interrogated.

"How the hell did they get down there without you bumbling morons noticing them?" Van Statten berated, scowling.

"We've no idea, but there's more. Facial analysis software has made a match, a partial match, anyway." She swallowed, then braved on. "It's Gemma Thorn, Sir. A 77% match."

"Well, that is interesting, isn't it?" Van Statten said with a self satisfied smile. "Have them brought to my private office."

He started to saunter away, the pleased expression lingering. "For once, this might just be worth my time."

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Marci and the Doctor instinctively raised their hands over their heads as they joined Gemma. The sound of the Tardis's door slamming shut behind them echoed dully in the cavernous room.

"It's some sort of museum." Marci realized aloud, looking around at the various display cases.

"An alien museum." The Doctor muttered. "Alright there, Gemma?" The Doctor inquired in a deceptively mild voice.

"Just _dandy_." She drawled as she studied the four armed guards in front of her.

She made a moue of disgust. Sloppy. Sloppy-sloppy-sloppy.

Back at Torchwood, she would have kicked her team to the curb if they'd presented half so poorly.

What was Van Statten thinking?

"Doctor, they have guns..." Marci trailed off uncertainly.

"And we don't." The Doctor stated cheerfully as Gemma rolled her eyes. She knew just how well the Doctor disliked weapons of any sort, so she normally tried to handle this sort of thing herself.

"Sure, they can kill us," He continued with a grin. "But we have the moral high ground, don't you think?"

"Oh, for pity's sake, Doctor!" Gemma said in exasperation. "Now!" She called out, moving so quickly the Doctor barely had time to realize her meaning.

With movements smooth and decisive from years of practice, she disarmed the two guards in front of her, the Doctor disarming a third nearly simultaneously.

The fourth guard was left wide-eyed, unable to decide where to point his weapon.

"Sloppy." She said to the two guards in a scolding voice, shoving their weapons back into their hands. The Doctor likewise handed back his stolen weapon.

"Now." She said in authoritative voice that had Marci and the Doctor's eyebrows raising in unison.

"Take me to your leader. And for god's sake, the next time you point a weapon at me, have the damn safety _off_."

Flushing in angry embarrassment, the team captain motioned them forward. Gemma walked by, head held high as any queen.

No one but the Doctor saw the discreet wink she gave the fourth guard.

The four guards marched them towards an elevator. Marci continued to eye them nervously, but the Doctor was more interested in watching Gemma.

Because damned if she didn't have that _look_, again.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Henry Van Statten barely managed to suppress his glee. Smirking as he leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled together, he observed the three people standing in front of him.

The girl to the left he dismissed almost immediately. A pretty bit, to be sure, with mocha skin and wide eyes, but when one was a rich as Midas, pretty didn't quite make the cut. Facial analysis had been unable to identify her, which meant, as far as he was concerned, she was a nobody.

He likewise dismissed the man in the leather jacket. However clever he might have been to get into his vault, the real prize was standing to his right. Blond hair in a messy braid, topaz eyes filled with irritation, she glared right back at him.

He'd waited a long time to get his hands on Gemma Thorn.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma appraised Van Statten coolly, glad she had done her homework. Once she had realized just how similar this universe was to the others, she had started creating plans to deal with potential..._issues_.

"I wondered how long it would take for one of your lackeys to turn up to investigate the signal." Van Statten said, sliding around his desk to circle Gemma and the others, a cat toying with his prey.

"You boosted the signal on purpose, I assume." She remarked mildly.

"Naturally." He agreed, coming to stand directly before her, closer than she would have preferred. "But I never guessed _the_ Gemma Thorn herself would show up. I've been wanting to meet you for quite a while Gemma. May I call you Gemma?" He smirked.

She simply shrugged dismissively with one shoulder, obviously unimpressed.

"And just who exactly are you?' The Doctor said, the barest thread of steel edging his voice. Mentally rolling her eyes at the testosterone filling the air, Gemma replied "He's Henry Van Statten."

"And who is he at home, then?" The Doctor said in a purposefully not-impressed voice that had Gemma fighting back a small smile.

"Mr. Van Statten owns the internet." The young brunette man in the corner spoke up.

"Don't be stupid." Marci replied, scoffing. "No one owns the internet."

"Look English, a little British playmate for you." Van Statten said idly, as he reached forward to lift a lock of Gemma's hair away from her face.

The Doctor's spine straightened as he instinctively pulled himself taller, edging towards Gemma and Van Statten.

Seeing this, Van Statten chuckled. "Ooh, he's a feisty one, I see. Should I be jealous you found him first?" He whispered in her ear.

Looking him straight in the eye, she replied "You have no idea."

He laughed as he walked back to his desk. "I have to admit, I have enjoyed our little...competition." He said agreeably.

"What's that, then?" The Doctor said, becoming visibly more agitated by the second as he looked back and forth between Gemma and Van Statten. Gemma wasn't meeting his eyes, instead watching Van Statten like he was a snake she expected to strike.

"Statten Industries and Thorn Corp have been rivals for years." Van Statten explained, boasting as he settled back behind his desk once more.

"Medical breakthroughs, research grants, even recruitment." He jerked his head towards Adam, silent in the corner. "Though it has been a bit boring since Thorn Corp refuses to move into weapons research."

"Thorn Corp isn't about making weapons, or even about making a profit. We're helping people." Gemma spit out the words angrily.

"Boring." Van Statten sang, smiling cruelly.

"Blimey, you're one of those Thorns?" Marci breathed in disbelief.

"What do ya mean?" The Doctor said, voice sharp. He was unsure of his footing, and he didn't care for it.

"Try _the_ Thorn." Van Statten replied. "The sole proprietor. A board runs the day to day stuff, of course, all the boring little details. but not a single real decision is made without this woman's go ahead. Except when she disappears on sabbatical, of course."

"What's Thorn Corp?" The Doctor said, more confused by the moment.

The others in the room turned to look at at him disbelievingly.

"They make chocolate." Marci said finally. "No one had ever tried it before Thorn Corp marketed it back at the end of the 1800's."

"Oh, that's you then?" The Doctor said, wide eyed, turning to look at Gemma in surprise..

She shrugged somewhat uncomfortably. "It sorta took off from there. Fingers in lots of pies, now."

"And then, of course, this is the matter of Thorn Corp's... lesser know affiliations." Van Statten continued.

"Providing technical assistance and consultations for organizations like Torchwood and Unit. Research into technologies that are far too advanced for the times. Medical breakthroughs that are a little too...miraculous. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of charity work the company does. Some poor kid in China breaks a nail and Thorn Corp's ready to step up and lend a hand. And every time something unusual, something otherworldly occurs, you can find Thorn Corp's finger prints all over it, if you know how to look, of course. A little unusual for a candy company, don't you think? One might say that Gemma Thorn has an uncanny knack for perceiving problems...before they're problems." Van Statten eyed her, but she continued to studiously ignore him.

"The interesting thing." Van Statten continued. "The really interesting thing about Gemma Thorn, is that she doesn't appear to be real. Files get mysteriously erased. Photographs accidentally get destroyed. You'd be lucky to locate a birth certificate. Gemma Thorn...is a ghost."

"So I've been told." She replied, flicking her eyes to the Doctor. He was watching her with a wary look, like she was a caged tiger and he wasn't sure which way she'd spring..

"And yet..." Van Statten was on a roll now, clearly having no intention of stopping. "The family resemblance is remarkable. Mother after daughter after mother, all sharing not only the same first name, but seemingly the same face."

"What do you want, Van Statten?" Gemma asked harshly, unnerved despite her best intentions.

"I want to know about Bad Wolf." He said simply, relishing the look of surprise that crossed her features before she was able to contain it.

"Bad Wolf?" Marci broke in, confused, "But that's just a fairy tale. A kids story."

"Bad Wolf?" The Doctor asked. "What's Bad Wolf?"

"It's an old fairy tale, no one knows exactly how it started, it was never formally written down until A. Williams printed a version in her treasury of children's tales in the late 1930's." Adam filled in.

Marci nodded, "I remember, my Gran used to read them to me when I was little, scared me till I couldn't sleep, some of them anyway."

"It wasn't her best seller." Adam agreed. "But it contains the clearest written account of the Bad Wolf Fable. She called it the Ballad of Bad Wolf. It was several pages long, but the gist of it was that someone, presumably a girl, called the Valiant Child, fell in love with a wanderer."

"The Lonely God." Marci said, remembering aloud.

"Exactly. But he and her other friends were threatened by something, some evil that wasn't clearly described.

"Made by love stolen, replaced with hate." Marci said, quoting the story as best she could.

Adam nodded. "So the Valiant Child sacrificed herself to the Blue Lady, the keeper of time, becoming some sort of goddess herself, the Bad Wolf. The hunter of demons and devils, and the protector of lost children."

"The thing the monsters fear." Van Statten said, eyes hawk like on Gemma's face.

Gemma swallowed. She had known Van Statten was a clever opponent, a dangerous opponent.

But how could he have ever figured out her connection to Bad Wolf? And how had he managed to keep his knowledge of her from her spies?

"It's a fable, a fairytale your mother read to you before bed, Van Statten. Nothing more." Gemma shrugged, attempting to play it off.

"Oh, I very much doubt that." He replied, smiling again.

This time it was the curly haired woman who spoke up. "Bad Wolf may have started as a fairy tale, but someone took it a step further. Throughout modern history, you can find evidence of it, traces of some sort of group, a shadow organization, cloaked in secrecy. Rescuing Jewish children during WWII. Feeding the homeless during the Great Depression. Always working behind the scenes, pushing buttons, using influence without ever acting directly. Only whispers, nameless, faceless. At some point in time, the words "Bad Wolf" came to be associated with this organization, but whether it was by their own decision, we have no idea."

"I have an idea." Van Statten drawled. "It would take a genius to notice such little details, such a faint pattern, but hey?" He threw his hands up flamboyantly. "What can I say."

"What pattern." The Doctor said, dislike dripping from his voice.

"It's Thorn Corp, of course." Van Statten said.

"You're insane." Gemma said, striving to make her voice as cool as the Doctor's face at that moment.

"Oh, it's useless to ague, Gemma. I have the time, the money and the brains to back up my claims, so lets just mark this one as a win in my column. Because it get gets better." He smiled, a feral grin.

"So, now we know that Bad Wolf and Thorn Corp are one and the same. But that means..." He waggled his finger. "We've already discovered that Thorn Corp is really only an extension of the will of Gemma Thorn. Gemma Thorn_ is_ Thorn Corp. And Thorn Corp, is Bad Wolf."

"So Gemma's the Bad Wolf?" Marci said, scoffing. "Somehow I doubt that."

The Doctor remained ominously silent.

"Gemma Thorn, who exists without existing, making changes, altering history, all without leaving a single footprint. Who never seems to have been born, who doesn't seem to age. I wonder, Gemma, would you care to take a look at my little pet?"

"Well, since I'm already here." She tossed back. "And if I am right about it, you are in a world of trouble, Van Statten."

"Please." He said smiling. "Call me Henry."

"Not likely." The Doctor and Gemma replied in unison.

Van Statten swung his face towards the Doctor suddenly.

"And just who are you, exactly?" He snarled.

"I'm the Doctor." The Doctor snapped back. "You want an expert, well I'm your man."

"Dr. Who?" Van Statten replied.

"Just the Doctor." The Doctor said. He'd had quite enough of Van Statten's posturing. Though he himself had been questioning Gemma less than an hour ago, he found himself moving protectively to stand in front of her.

Whoever the hell she was, he wasn't letting Van Statten get his hands on her.

"And just what are you an expert of, Doctor?" Van Statten questioned. He had picked up a strangely shaped piece of metal he had been using as a paperweight, turning it about restlessly in his hands.

"Let's start with that." The Doctor replied, jerking his head towards the paperweight.

Van Statten paused, his hands stilling as he looked at the piece of metal he'd been fondling.

"I had thought that might have been used to hold fuel of some sort, it's not dangerous, is it?" Adam questioned, suddenly worried.

Gemma snorted, and the Doctor tossed her a quick grin over his shoulder.

"No." He said, smirking as he took it from Van Statten's hands. "It just looks silly."

He rotated it quickly in his hands, adjusting his grip lightly, then pressed the hidden indentation that activated it. "It reacts to the lightest of touches. Gentle persuasion, you might say."

He ran his fingers over the instrument using only the slightest bit of pressure. An unearthly sound echoed, beautiful yet obviously foreign.

"It's a musical instrument." Marci said quietly.

"Let me see!" Van Statten ordered, grabbing it out of the Doctor's hands and both the Doctor and Gemma winced.

Van Statten ran his fingers across it to harshly, and a jarring squeal filled the room. The occupants all winced this time as the Doctor muttered "I _did_ say gentle."

Van Statten glared at the Doctor before trying a second time, albeit far more gentle.

"That's better." The Doctor said reluctantly as the otherworldly notes filled the room again.

"Excellent." Van Statten said, standing up and tossing the instrument haphazardly to Adam, who barely caught it in time as both Gemma and the Doctor winced again.

"Two experts for the price of one. Well, come on then, Gemma, Doctor no-name." He called as he started to cross the room.

"English, keep the pretty bit occupied." He said, nodding at a scowling Marci. Turning towards Gemma and the Doctor, he said "Come and see my pet."

The Doctor paused, reluctant to let one of their group be separated, but Gemma nodded reassuringly.

"The further she is from him, the better." Lowering her voice, she added- "And Doctor, Van Statten is a collector of alien artifacts. Be careful you don't become exhibit A, yea?"

"Gemma Thorn, very soon we are going to have a very long discussion." He said, his voice edged with severity. He didn't like feeling like everyone in the room knew more about what was going on than he did.

She glanced back at him, and he got a good look at her eyes for the first time since they'd met Van Statten.

She looked haunted.

Instinctively he reached out and grabbed her hand. "It'll be alright." He said reassuringly as they trailed Van Statten down the corridors to the elevators. They passed floor after floor of exhibits, bits and pieces of stars and species and lives, all cataloged and locked away.

"Criminal." The Doctor muttered as they passed one exhibit. "That belonged to some Alodosscinii girl once. A childrens toy. Alodosscinii take over two-hundred years to mature. She's probably still looking for her dolly."

"Here we are." Van Statten announced proudly. "The Cage of the Metaltron."

"Metaltron?" The Doctor said, obviously not impressed.

"Thought of it myself. Quite good, eh? Though..." He slanted a weighted look at them. "I'd much prefer to know it's real name."

A man came out in what appeared to be some form a hazmat-themed riot gear.

"Simmons, status report!" Van Statten barked.

The man removed his head gear. "I've had to take the power down, Sir. It's resting."

Van Statten turned towards them. "It appears to be wearing some kind of armor we've had difficulty breaching. But there are definite signs of life. The most recent being it's distress call."

"Which you amplified to lure us here?" The Doctor hazarded a guess.

Van Statten shrugged. "You need bait to catch fish. Never guessed I reel in Gemma Thorn, of course. Been trying to get a date with that one for a while now Doctor." He leered at her, and she made a face a mild disgust.

"Not even in your dreams, Van Statten." Gemma said, stepping away from him.

Unable to stop himself, the Doctor leaned over to whisper conspiratorially in his ear. "Bit of a lost cause, mate. That one's a tough nut to crack, even for me. And I gave Casanova lessons." He straightened and adjusted his jackets. "'Sides which. Good luck topping our first date."

"Where'd you take her?" Van Statten asked, attempting to look disinterested.

"The moon." Gemma replied without looking at them. She was trying to view the cell's occupant on the view screens, while discreetly tapping a few keys on the keyboard experimentally. She had a feeling the Doctor had caught on to her minor act of investigation, hence the small talk to distract Van Statten.

That was her guess anyway. She certainly didn't remember this regeneration of the Doctor being quite so...possessive?

She shook her head. Maybe the lack of oxygen on the moon really had damaged her brain. At this point in his time line, the Doctor couldn't possibly feel much more for her than curiosity. She was just one more pretty face at this point, just a blonde wrapped in a bit of mystery.

"The moon?" Van Statten sputtered. "Enough small talk. Simmons, open the cage.

Simmons typed the security codes into the keypad on the cell's entry way, and the thick metal door slid open.

Gemma and the Doctor walked into the darkened room, the cell door sliding closed behind them. The room was nearly pitch black, it's occupant chained to the far end, where the glow of the monitors failed to reach.

"Sorry about all this. But Don't worry. I'm here now. I'm the Doctor. I'm here to help."

"Doct-or?" The voice was familiar, the sounds of your childhood nightmares, never fully remembered, but never entirely forgot.

The lights came on and Gemma froze.

It couldn't be...

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma wasn't the only one who had froze at the sound of the Dalek's voice.

But the Doctor shifted gears quickly, far more quickly then Gemma, who was just standing there with a numb, shocked expression on her face.

"That's not possible!" He shouted, even as he was pulling Gemma away, towards the doors, attempting escape. But Van Statten had locked them behind them. The Doctor resorted to pushing the still silent Gemma between him and the door, doing his best to stay between her and the Dalek as he beat his fist against the door.

"Let us out!" He demanded, shouting. "Help! Let us out! Let us out!"

The Dalek, too, had become frenzied, straining against it's chains. "You are the Doctor. You are an enemy of the Daleks. Exterminate! Exterminate!" Vainly it attempted to break it's bonds, but it was too damaged, too weak.

Confused as to why the Dalek hadn't killed them yet, the Doctor spun around.

Gemma was still silent, wide eyed and breathing hard. That alone was enough to spook the Doctor, because she didn't exactly frighten easy. But he'd have to worry about that later.

If they were still alive.

"Well, do it then!" He cried, advancing on the Dalek.

"What are you waiting for?" He half-yelled.

The Dalek raised it's laser beam, but nothing happened, only the faintest echo of a clicking sound issued forth.

Suddenly, the Doctor started laughing. "You can't, can you? You're too damaged, out of power!" He lunged forward suddenly, as if to attack the Dalek, and it retreated as far as it's chains would allow. The Doctor started laughing again.

"You Daleks!" He spit the words out, wielding them like weapons. "You live, and you live, WHILE I LOSE EVERYTHING!" He screamed.

"But whose laughing now?" He cried, mania coloring his voice.

"Just look at you. What good are you? A Dalek that cannot kill. What purpose could you possibly have? Why do you still LIVE" His voice echoed in the cell, Gemma and even the Dalek appearing to flinch.

"I am awaiting orders." The Dalek replied.

"Orders? Why?" The Doctor snarled at it.

"I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders." It relied in it's ominous monotone.

The Doctor grinned ferally."Well, you're never gonna get them. The War's over. Your people burned, all of them. Every last one, I know, _I burned them_. The Daleks lost." He spit out, turning away, emotion ravaging his face, chest heaving.

"And...the Time Lords?" The Dalek questioned.

"We lost too." The Doctor replied, fury and pain radiating off him. "My people burned along with them."

"And yet you survive. As did I. We are the same." The Dalek said.

"Never!" The Doctor breathed. "Never compare us! We are nothin-" And then he stopped, grinning.

"No. Perhaps we are." He said. "Because I know exactly what to do. I don't have to 'wait for orders'" He mimicked the Dalek viciously.

"Because I know exactly what to do." He stalked over to the wall where the rooms monitors and powers switches were kept.

"Exterminate." He sang, flipping the handle down.

The Dalek screamed.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma was frozen. Unable to move, unable to think. She was stunned, breathless.

Because the Dalek in front of her was _wrong_.

She'd braced herself for the Dalek, of course. There was always the chance the distress call would turn out to be some other creature, but she hadn't held out any real hope in that regard.

This wasn't her first encounter with Daleks in this universe, but she'd known it might be the Doctor's first encounter since the war, and she'd attempted to mentally prepare herself, realizing how hard it would be on the Doctor, the horrible wounds that were about to be reopened. She'd launched immediately into the strategy she had planned for herself, should she encounter this particular scenario in this universe.

But all thoughts of plans and strategies had flown out of her mind the moment she had laid eyes on the Dalek.

Because this Dalek was _wrong_.

Like the ones in her origin universe, Daleks of this universe came in many colors, with some variance to size and shape according to their purpose.

But this Dalek she recognized immediately. It had a more angular shape, it's laser was positioned differently. It's speech pattern was slightly different. The Doctor was so upset he probably hadn't realized the full implications of those tiny, minute details.

But Gemma had taken one look and _known_.

This Dalek hadn't just fallen through time.

This Dalek was like her.

It had fallen through reality.

This Dalek was from her home universe.

Her mind had scattered into a million pieces at the realization. She had thought she had been ready, thought she'd been prepared, but she was wrong, so, so wrong.

Just the sight of it made her heart race, a thousand memories screaming through her head, Bad Wold growling and pacing, sensing the threat.

And her heart was beating too fast, and her hands were shaking and...

"_Can't you stop them from closing?"_

"_I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait, and I can't help you. Now, for God's sakes, RUN!"_

And the Doctor was in front of her, screaming at the Dalek, but the words coming from his mouth didn't match the memories echoing in her head-

"_I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself."_

And she was afraid, and the Dalek was afraid, and the Doctor was afraid, and somehow, this thing, this monster-

"_You are tiny. I see every atom of your existence, and I divide them."_

It had fallen, like her, dear god, it had fallen through a crack in the universe, just like her, it wasn't like the Doctor at all, it was like _her..._

It was the sound of the Doctor's laughter that finally broke through the terrified hysteria in her mind.

The Doctor in front of her, the Doctor that was speaking in a voice that wasn't his, that was laughing a laugh that she prayed she never heard again.

Because however wrong the monster in front of her was, the wrongness in the Doctor's voice was worse.

So much worse.

The Doctor flipped the power switch again, ignoring the Dalek's screams.

"Why should I show mercy? When were your people ever _merciful_?" He cried, flipping the power on yet again.

Suddenly Gemma was there, forcing his hand on the switch upward, killing the power.

"What are you doing?" His face was only inches from hers as she took the full blast of his pain and anger.

She didn't reply, instead placing both hands on his shoulders and shoving him against the wall.

"You can't do this." She said in a broken, ragged voice.

"You don't know what they did! What they are!" He said, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her a little for emphasis.

"I know a Dalek when I see one!" She replied, refusing to give ground.

The Doctor pinned her with an angry, broken stare. "Then why are you stopping me?" He ground out.

She swallowed. "Believe me." She said, placing her hands on either side of his face, looking straight into his eyes. "There is an angry, snarling wolf inside my head that would love nothing more than to tear that thing to pieces. But we can't. Because, it's like Marci said. The poem. That's how you do it."

"Do what." He said, searching her face for answers.

"That's how you make a Dalek." She breathed, face only inches from his. "You subtract love, and add hate, and what's left, is a Dalek."

"I lost everything." He said, a silent tear streaking down his face.

"We all did." She replied.

"It's too dangerous to live." He pleaded with her.

"It's too dangerous to kill, like this anyway." She soothed.

"Dangerous for who?" He asked.

"For you." She replied. "We'll find another way. You and me. Quick and painless and finished. The Time War ends." She stated with finality.

But in that moment, she realized her mistake. Because even as she said those words, those words she knew better than to say, than to tempt fate with, it Dalek seemed to come alive with renewed force, throwing itself against it's bonds.

Startled, they turned to look at it.

"Bad Wolf." It stated in it's chilling monotone. "You have been identified. You are the predator of the Daleks. You are the Bad Wolf."

She froze, feeling the Doctor's eyes on the back of her head. She swallowed.

"That's right." She said finally. "I am. I am the Bad Wolf. And you should be very frightened, right now. Because I have done far worse than set a thousand Dalek ships alight. I have destroyed hundreds of thousands of Daleks, not with weapons, not with fire."

"I was there." It replied.

"Then you know the nature of what I am, of what I am capable of." She said.

The doors to the cell slid open. "Well, I've heard what I needed to know." Van Statten declared, strolling in. Calling to his guards ( of which there were several more, this time around) he said "Seize them. Split them up. Take him to the 46th floor lab. I'll start with him."

"And the girl, sir?" The captain asked, eying Gemma with obvious dislike.

Van Statten smiled. "Show her our hospitality. Floor 50 has a lovely room open."

The Doctor immediately starting struggling as Van Statten's men grabbed him. Gemma didn't bother.

This had always been the most likely scenario involving Van Statten.

"You have to kill it, Van Statten. It's too dangerous to live." The Doctor called out frantically as the guards led him away. He looked panicked at Gemma. She wouldn't meet his eyes, and his panic increased. He could tell she was about to set some plan in motion, and he had come a little late to the game.

"Dangerous?" Van Statten scoffed. "You said it yourself, it couldn't kill someone if it tried."

"That was then, it's different now!" The Doctor continued to fight.

"And why is that?" Van Statten replied.

"Because now it knows we're here." Gemma stated woodenly. "Nothing in this world will stop it, unless we do, right now."

"And destroy the prize of my collection?" Van Statten mocked. "Never. Though, now that I've acquired not only a _Time Lord" _he directed his stare at the Doctor for a moment, "But the one and only Bad Wolf, it may not be the prize anymore. Simmons! Make the Dalek talk again."

"Leave her alone, Van Statten!" The Doctor called down the hall, his voice echoing as they matched him down the corridor, followed by Van Statten.

"This way." One of her guards said, nudging her with the butt of her gun, and she resisted rolling her eyes again.

Sloppy. Sloppy. Sloppy. No wonder the Dalek in her universe had decimated them so easily.

She bid her time, allowing the guards to herd her into the elevator.

"How's Tosh?" She said nonchalantly to the guard on her right.

Owen grinned at her. "Ready for me to be home." He replied with a grin as the other guards looked at them in confusion.

"Better get on with it them." She replied.

Two minutes later, the elevator doors opened on the 50th floor, as Owen finished restraining the third guard. "You might have given this one a concussion." He remarked offhandedly.

This time she did roll her eyes. "Better than what that Dalek will do, if we don't move fast." She replied.

Owen nodded. "Right. This way, Van Statten keeps an office every few floors so he never has to wait."

She rolled her eyes again.

"That man is disgusting." She said.

"And the best bit is, he knows about us." Owen replied sarcastically..

"And he's really gonna love me after this." Gemma replied with a grim smile as she sat herself down at the desk. "Everything in place?"

Owen nodded. "Tosh laid the back doors, like you said. You should have full access."

She typed her password in quickly, grinning as the data streamed across her screen. "Raises." She said firmly. "Big raises. Both of you. Huge!"

"All I have to do is live to cash it in." Owen quipped.

"Stick with me kid." She joked.

Starting at the top, she started erasing files, sub files, data back ups, anything she didn't like the look off. Anything coded Doctor, Dalek, Metaltron, or, in particular, Bad Wolf. She noticed several sub folders in the Bad Wolf file. They looked like dead ends to her. She didn't recognize any of the names.

She clicked on one called "Marie Ryles". It didn't contain any photos, merely listing some basic personnel information. It was flagged to be reviewed, though, so she decided to do the girl a favor, and erased it too. She made sure Owen's phony personnel file was wiped, then for good measure, she gave a restart command to the Data Storage Mainframe as a whole.

Owen whistled under his breath. "You do realize you're Tosh's hero, right? Wants to be you when she grows up." He joked.

"Don't grow up, it's a trap." She replied without missing a beat.

Suddenly, alarms starting blaring.

"What the hell!" She cried, trying to get video feed of the cage, but the camera's were already down.

"No, no, no, we're not ready, how could this happen, I didn't touch the bloody thing..." Suddenly, she started cursing as she pulled up feed for Adam's workshop.

Adam's empty workshop.

"Oh, you are kidding me." She whispered.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Marci was more than a little annoyed at being sent off to play while the grownups talked. She had been to the moon, after all. But Adam was cute, in a "I know I'm cute" sorta way, so she decided to make the best of it.

"World War Three, huh? You're proud of it, too. I can tell" She laughed at him.

He grinned. "But, you had to be there, just to see it. They were all running around like mad. It was fantastic."

She made a face. "Now you sound like them two upstairs. All _fantastic_ this and _Bad Wolf_ that.

Adam rolled his eyes. "I know, right? But Mr. Van Statten's obsessed. Used to be just aliens, and stuff. But a little over a year ago he started on this Bad Wolf kick. Most of the staff is just trying to ride it out."

"I bet." Marci agreed. "Granted, Gemma Thorn's kinda cool. But I don't think she's mythological-stuff-of-legends cool."

"How'd you meet them, anyway?" Adam asked.

"Um-mm, at the hospital. I'm a third year med student." She answered.

Attempting to change the subject she said "So, that's your job then, just sorta, cataloging all this...stuff." She gestured around them.

Adam shrugged. "Who else is gonna pay me to play with space junk?" He asked.

"But they were talking about a real, live alien, downstairs?" Marci fished.

Adam shrugged uncomfortably. "Yeah. I've never seen it though. Asked, of course, but Mr. Van Statten's pretty keen on keeping it to himself."

Marci gave him an unimpressed look, one brow raised, and Adam grinned in reply.

"Of course..." He said, "_If_ one were to happen to be a computer genius..." He trailed off suggestively, and she grinned in return.

They moved towards his computer monitor. "I ought to at least be able to pull up the video feed..." His voice trailed off as the screen filled with picture.

Almost immediately, Marci's hand flew to her mouth, "What are they doing to it? It's screaming!" She cried, aghast.

"I'm sure it's just..." Adam trailed off as Marci pinned him with him with a fierce glare.

"They're torturing it." Marci stated emphatically. "We've got to stop them. Take me down there. Right now."

"Special security clearance, code three." Adam said nervously as they approached the cage. "Mr. Van Statten's orders." The bored looking guard punched in the entry codes without a second thought, and Marci pushed her way in hastily.

"Whatever you're doing, just stop!" She cried to Simmons.

Simmons scowled at her. "Mr. Van Statten's orders. I'm to make it talk no matter what." He said.

She scowled back at him. "Then maybe you should just try talking to it."

He waved her over. "Be my guest." He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Hello?" Marci started off hesitantly. "Can you understand me? Are you in pain? I'm here with some friends, they'll help you, alright?"

"Yes." It replied in an echoing monotone, startling the three in the room.

"Yes, you can understand me?" Marci asked.

"Yes. I am in pain. They are torturing me." It replied.

Shooting Simmons a fierce glare, she replied "Well, that's going to stop, right now."

"It is pointless. I am dying, and yet they fear me." It stated this so matter of factly that Marci was nearly as horrified by the way it stated the words as much as the words themselves.

"No, don't talk like that. My name's Marci Jones, and we'll find a way to help you." She said, racking her mind for a way to soothe it.

"It is a fact. My people are all dead and soon I will join them." This time, Marci thought perhaps she had noticed the faintest trace of pain in it's voice, or was that her imagination?

"Isn't there anything we can do?" She asked desperately. Where were Gemma and the Doctor?

"Tell me." It said, causing her to glance at the two men in confusion,but they only shrugged.

"Tell you what?" She asked cautiously.

"Are you frightened, Marci Jones?" It asked.

She tilted her head slightly to one side before shaking it a little. "No, I'm not afraid." She replied.

"Then I am glad to have met a human who was not afraid, before I died." It said.

She frowned a little. "Now, look, don't be like that. If you let us, I really think we can help-"She had reached out a hand, unsure if her touch would be welcome, but she had started to view it like one of her patients at the hospital.

However, the moment her hand touched the metal casing enclosing the alien, something seemed to happen. For just the barest second, it was like she could see her hand print on the aliens armor, like it was _glowing_.

Then it spoke.

"Extrapolating genetic material. Insufficient traces of radiation. Alternative energy sources required."

Suddenly it lunged forward, breaking it's chains. Simmons started forward, armed with some sort of taser looking device. But as he neared the alien, it swung towards him, attaching some sort of open ended probe to his face.

Marci and Adam could only watch in horror as it seemed to literally suck the life out of him , leaving nothing more than a shriveled corpse behind. Panicking, Adam hit the alarm button as the alien moved towards the bank of computers.

The two guards ran in. "What the hell have you done?" One yelled at Adam while the other opened fire. It seemed to have no effect however, and they watched as the alien attached itself to the bank of monitors. Almost immediately, lights started flickering.

"Move! Out!" The other guard yelled, pushing them out of the cage as other guards ran past. Suddenly, they heard a strange high pitched squeal, followed by the sound of several people yelling.

"Come'n, Move!" Adam cried, grabbing Marci by the hand.

"But those men?" She cried, resisting. This was all her fault...

"Too late, come on!" He yanked on her arm, and this time she reluctantly followed him down the corridor.

Power to the elevators was out, so they ran for the a stairwell. Alarms were going off everywhere, and the noise combined with the power fluctuations made for a nightmarish landscape.

They reached the stairwell just as another ten or so guards flew out the door.

"All civilians evacuate to the higher floors immediately." The leader cried.

They started up.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The Doctor and Van Statten were in the lab when the alarms went off. The Doctor was chained, spread eagle to a table that had been levered up. Van Statten was about to scan him with what looked be a very painful laser beam.

"That's impossible!" Van Statten cried, rushing over to yet another bank of computers.

"I warned you, Van Statten. Now, for the love of god, if you want to live, LET ME GO!"

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma and Owen intercepted Marci and Adam mid flight, about two levels below what Gemma gauged to be safe distance.

"Gemma, it's all my fault, I didn't know!" The tears on her cheeks broke Gemma's heart a little.

Grabbing her shoulders, she said "This is NOT your fault, Marci. If anything, it's my fault. I didn't expect things to happen so quickly, but that's no excuse. Listen, the Doctor is two floors up, yeah? Go to him, quickly. They may have to seal these floors off, and you two don't want to get cut off."

"What about you?" Marci cried in concern.

"I have to try and stop it, or at least slow it down. Listen, go straight to the Doctor, OK? Tell any other personnel you see to do the same, lie to them if you have do." She turned to Adam.

"Listen to me good, Adam, because this is the only chance I'm gonna give you." She said sternly. "My people installed a back door to Van Statten's systems months ago, tell him the code is R-Y-C-B-A-R-1-2-3."

"How am I supposed to remember that?" He cried.

"Some genius." She muttered. "Like this, _R_un _Y_ou _C_lever_ B_oy _A_nd _R_emember 1-2-3. He can use it to try and stop the Dalek. My team is probably already working on the power drain at the European end, but there's not gonna be a lot they can do for North America. Give me your earpiece." Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed it off his ear, making him yelp. Quickly applying her sonic to it, she said "I've just created a two-way frequency. Tell him to do the same to Diana's earpiece."

"How do you know her name?" Adam said in confusion, and Owen just rolled his eyes.

"She's Gemma Thorn, you're an idiot, now shut up!" Owen cried.

"Tell him I'm on frequency 42, NOW MOVE!" Adam started forward, but suddenly she grabbed his arm, pulling him forward to whisper menacingly in his ear- "And Adam, if you leave her behind, I swear you'll be sorry."

White faced, Adam took off, nearly having to drag Marci behind him as he bolted up the stairs.

She fitted the earpiece over her ear with a frown of distaste. Wireless tech held practically no appeal to her after everything that had happened, but at times like this she had little choice. "You too, Owen. Make sure they get to the Doctor safely."

"Like hell." Owen replied conversationally, as if talking about the weather.

Squaring her shoulders, she said "Owen, I'm serious. This thing was deadly before it was half mad, and I have to be it's number one target."

"Prove my point." He shot back.

"OWEN!" She half shouted, running her hands through her hair, they were running out of time...

"Not.. Happening." He refused to budge and she sighed.

"Fine. Don't die. You don't get a raise if you die." She said, and without further comment started back down the stairs.

"What exactly happened, anyway?" Owen asked.

Trying to explain it as simply as possible, she said "During time travel, you absorb this kind of...radiation, you could call it. It's harmless, just background noise, so to speak, but during the Time War, the Daleks evolved a way to use it for energy, to fuel a sort of cellular regeneration."

"Who touched the pepper pot?" Owen asked.

"Apparently Marci, which I should have guessed. She thought it needed help, so she reached out to it. It took advantage of that, using DNA it extrapolated to regenerate itself, then it started draining power, and information, too, unless Tosh and RJ were able to stop it."

"So, how strong are we talking?" He asked, checking his weapon was locked and loaded, and attempting to hand Gemma his back up piece.

She just shook her head. "Those wouldn't work on it anyway." She said.

"Then what the hell will?" Owen asked, sarcasm covering fear.

"It made a mistake, using Marci's DNA, though it probably didn't know it at the time. Marci's only time traveled once, and that was only a few months back in time. She's barely had any exposure at all. And not only that, but human DNA is vastly different that Time Lord DNA. Our emotions are more primal, more dominant. We're social creatures, we need others of our species to survive. When the Dalek imported Marci's DNA and used it to partially regenerate, it got a whooping dose of those emotions, too."

"How can you know that for sure?" Owen asked, considering just knocking her over the head and dragging her with him upstairs.

"Long story. But like I said, it needs DNA from someone with serious time travel exposure. Like me or the Doctor." She said, her voice echoing up the now silent stairwell.

"And why aren't we letting the Doctor do this then?" He asked.

"I'm the better match." She replied simply. "It wants me more." She didn't mention that since she and the Dalek shared an origin universe, she was, in fact, the only really good match, and the Dalek knew it, too.

"But what can you do to stop it!" He said, grabbing her arm.

She turned to look at him. "I had a friend." she said simply. Swallowing, she continued, "And he said something, once. I didn't understand it at the time. Honestly, I was just too young."

"What are you talking about?" He stated, frustration warred with concern on his face.

She looked up at him. "He said...he was talking about himself, you see, and he said 'I was so merciful, once. I had so much mercy.' And I didn't understand then, but I do now, I do, Owen, because_ I_ used to have so much mercy. So much pity." She glanced away, then said softly "I had so much mercy I managed to give a Dalek a soul once."

"What do you mean-" He was cut off by the motion of her turning around suddenly, posture alert.

"What was that?" She said suddenly, sonic out and at the ready, nodding towards the door to the floor they had been about to pass.

"I didn't hear anything!" He said, even as he eased to door open, weapon ready. He took two steps into the corridor.

"All clear-" He started to say, only to be interrupted by the sound of the door slamming shut, followed by Gemma's sonic whirring to life.

"Gemma!" He hissed.

"There's an auxiliary stairwell at the other end of this corridor, but it only goes up. Get to the Doctor, take anyone you find with you. Remind RJ about that raise." She said.

"Gemma! Gemma!" He cursed, banging on the door, but she was already flying down the stairwell. Two floors to go.

Reaching the desired floor, she entered to corridor carefully. Just up ahead were the bunker doors.

That was the place then. She would have to make a stand there. Either she would stop it, or stall it long enough for the Doctor to seal the corridors.

Even on this floor, there were display cases spaced out here and there. She was passing by a case with two different space suits in it when she paused, staring at the leftmost one.

Something...was off about it. She couldn't put her finger on it, but for some reason, just the sight of it made her break into gooseflesh.

"What the hell are you doing!" The Doctor's voice crackled across her earpiece suddenly, making her jump, even as a reflection came to view in the glass behind her. Slowly, she pivoted around.

The Dalek was coming.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The Doctor typed frantically at the keyboard, Adam and Van Statten doing the same at the monitors beside him. Someone across the pond, (presumably Thorn Corp) had started assisting anonymously, and between the four of them, they had managed to isolate the power failure strictly to the West Coast, and preserve the integrity of about 67% of the worlds internet servers.

But the Dalek had managed to wrangle an awful lot of information and power before they'd blocked it.

"Sir, twenty-two guards have gone down in the lower access corridor, no apparent survivors, it's only a floor away from the bunker doors, we have to be ready, we won't be able to manage that much power for long." Diana said.

Hitting keys so rapidly his fingers were only a blur, the Doctor used Gemma's backdoor password to enter yet another mainframe. How had she known how to do all this?

"I can't get the last firewall down." Van Statten cursed banging his hand against the desk.

Finally getting getting the frequency right for the video feeds, he pulled up the corridor featuring the bunker doors.

He started cursing, switching languages nearly as fast as he typed.

Who else would be standing there but crazy, fearless IMPOSSIBLE Gemma Thorn. Idling about, as calm as the day was long, checking out a display case with a spacesuit in it.

And coming up the corridor behind her was the Dalek.

He quickly used his sonic on the earpiece he had appropriated from Diana a few moments ago. Setting the frequency, he jammed it onto his ear.

"What the hell are you doing?" He barked, panicking. She had to get out of there now, they were only seconds away from sealing the bunker doors, if she got trapped down there...

"I still can't override this last line of code!" Van Statten said.

Suddenly, he could here Gemma's voice in the earpiece , and he switched it to speaker.

"Use the override code, Doctor." She said simply.

"RYCBAR?" He asked in confusion.

He could see her on the camera shaking her head. "No, the other one. Same setting as my sonic." She replied.

Eyes widening in remembrance, he quickly started on the line of code that was stalling Van Statten.

"Get out of there Gemma, it's right behind you!" He cried.

He keyed the first pass code:

_ECHO_

She remained where she was. "This is my fault Doctor." She said solemnly.

"I'll yell at you later, if ya like." He bit out, typing the next code:

_IVY_

"Now Move!" He ordered.

"It's already here Doctor, I have to stall it. Make this happen." She said.

"Not till you're safe!" He argued, even as he typed, faster than he'd worked in years. He was working so fast now everyone else was just watching, any actions on their part would only slow him down,

_STORMLIGHT_

He started the next set of codes. They were incredibly complex, how she'd been able to create any sort of restart or bypass was a mystery.

"Van Statten, how many people in the nearest city?" She cried, voice getting staticky as the Dalek approached her. The Doctors hearts were pounding a discordant rhythm.

"10 Million." Van Statten answered promptly.

"GEMMA GO!" The Doctor cried, anguish in his voice.

"I'm what it wants Doctor." She replied simply, and it felt like his hearts were breaking, they were falling into the black hole that had just developed in the space between them, and there was no way, no way he was leaving her down there.

"And everyone of them dead, Doctor. For the price of my mistake, if you don't PUSH THAT BUTTON!" She commanded.

"You'll be on your own." He said brokenly.

"There's no more time." She said softly.

He closed his eyes, fingers hovering over the keyboard. The Dalek was there, right there, and he had to stop it, if he didn't stop it, then what was the point of any of it, the Time War, Gallifrey, any of it?"

He fit the final four keys.

_NEON_.

The bunker doors slid closed. Without opening his eyes, praying to whatever errant God happened to be taking Time Lord prayers at that moment, he said "Gemma?"

"Run." She replied, as he looked at the monitor. She hadn't moved, hadn't fled. She had stood her ground, the only thing left between the Dalek and the doors.

She was locked in.

"What?" He said, fighting back tears. The Dalek was causing even greater interference now, the feed was going in and out, and he banged on the monitor, desperate to keep the picture.

"Run." She repeated. "Run you clever boy, and remember."

"I don't understand!" He cried, as she turned to look at the Dalek. "Remember what?"

"Oh, and Doctor?" She said, the faintest quiver in her voice.

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world." She said.

And then the feed on the monitor and earpiece went out.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma turned to face the Dalek. It was slower this time. Marci's DNA had only helped it to a small degree, and the Doctor and the others had circumvented it's attempts to gain alternative power. It needed her DNA desperately.

She hoped.

It moved somewhat unsteadily. It eased itself towards her, not unlike a drunk person attempting sobriety. It came to a halt before her and for an endless moment, they stared at each other, the human and the Dalek, the last of it's kind, and the only of hers. The only two pieces of their home universe, at cross purposes, destined to either kill the other or be killed instead.

"You are the Bad Wolf." It stated the name matter of factly, and she inclined her head.

"I am." She replied.

"You are the killer of my people." It said.

She paused, then spoke carefully. "I undid them. I'm not sorry. You're a soldier. You understand."

"Yes." It agreed. "One side must always lose."

"Both sides lose." She corrected it. "There were no winners that day. The Daleks destroyed over three fourth's of the earth's population in less than ten minutes. The Doctor told me, later."

"And you destroyed us all." It replied.

"All but you." She answered.

"It is my duty to kill you." It stated.

"Then why haven't you?" She challenged.

"What did Marci Jones do to me?" It demanded.

She was silent for a moment.

"Reply. Reply!" It cried.

"I'm sorry." She replied. "I am sorry. I didn't want this to happen."

"What has happened to me?" It repeated.

"You're changing." She explained, coming to stand before it. "Marci is training to become a Doctor. A healer. That's what she gave you. Emotions. Caring, pain, pity, empathy-"

"Fear." It interrupted her, and she crouched down before it.

"Yes." She agreed. "Marci hasn't traveled enough for her DNA to complete the process, it's only half done."

"What process?" It stated.

"You're growing a soul." She said, a tear running down her cheek. "And I am so sorry. It can't be stopped, and I don't know what you're turning into."

"Do you know what you are turning into?" It questioned, and she sucked in a breath.

"No." She said.

"We both fell to this place. We are alone." It said.

"I'm not alone. I have the Doctor." She said.

"He does not know what you are. He does not know what you have done." It stated.

"No. But he's the Doctor." She said, certainty in her voice.

"You had another name once. When the emperor took you, that Doctor called you by another name." It said.

She reeled a little for a moment. "That name is gone." She said finally. "I lost it."

"How do you lose a name?" It asked.

She studied it for a moment. Minute by minute, word by word, she wondered if it realized it was actually conversing with her.

How confused it must be right now.

"I gave it away." She said finally. "I fed it to an angry god. We had given it everything else, pain, regret, loss, anger. Nothing worked. So I used the greatest weapon I had."

"And what was that?" It questioned.

"Hope. That name was full of hope, and possibility. It was a blank page waiting to be wrote, a sentence that was started but never finished. That name, those words, they could have become anything. All that possibility..." She trailed off. She wasn't sure what was more frightening. That she was finally discussing her true identity, or that she was discussing it with a hybrid Dalek.

"That would be a mighty weapon, indeed." It replied.

"Would you like to see?" She asked. "I might be able to show you. But if you do..."

"What will occur?" It demanded imperiously.

"You'll die." She answered softly. "Daleks were never meant to have souls. You're dying. I can make it happen faster, that's all."

It was silent for a long moment.

"I want to see what you see." It finally said.

She swallowed.

'Now we will see the shape of my soul', she thought to herself.

Her true nature. What had she become? What she the Valiant Child?

Or the Bad Wolf?

Could she finish what Marci had unwittingly started? Could she give this creature mercy? Teach it sacrifice?

Or would she unleash an even worse monster?

"Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?" It asked, and her heart clenched at hearing that familiar name, that name she gave up, so long ago, when she had finally accepted that she couldn't just stand on that beach and wait to be rescued.

"_If it's my last chance to say it-"_

She exhaled raggedly. "Yes." She said.

She closed her eyes and reached out her hand, laying it gently on the creature.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf **

"Dead!" The Doctor threw the useless weapon to the floor, already filled with broken guns and blasters.

He was determined to find something with some life in it.

"You can't get down there!" Owen stood in front of him, waving his arms. "She said to evacuate. We know it's not dead yet, we've got to move, get somewhere more defensible." He came closer to the Doctor, laying his hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but this is what she'd want."

"She's not dead." The Doctor said bluntly, and Owen opened his mouth, only to close it again, unsure of what to say. He glanced at Marci for help, but she continued to just stand in the doorway, crying.

"If you think Gemma Thorn stood down there and just waited to die, than however long you've known her, it wasn't long enough. She's Gemma Thorn, and she always has a plan." The Doctor said, as he triumphantly held up a weapon with a little power left. "Now we're talking." He said with a grin. "She's not just down there waiting to be rescued. Not her. I'd sooner believe she was down having friendly conversation with it before I'd believe that. But whether she needs me or not, I'm going down there."

He looked at Owen, and Owen could finally see the pain screaming in his eyes.

"And even if she was, how could I just leave her down there?" He said. "No. I'm going back for her. Just like she'd come back for me."

He strode out of the room.

"Open the bunker." He commanded.

"No way!" Van Statten argued.

"Well enough. Look what I learned from Gemma." He said, pulling out his sonic and aiming it at the bunkers keypad.

It was always so much easier the second time around.

The doors slid open, and the Doctor sucked in his breath. There, standing before the Dalek, just STANDING there, and so gloriously alive, was Gemma Thorn.

"Get out of the way Gemma!" He ordered, quickly aiming the weapon at the Dalek.

"You can't, Doctor." She said sadly. "It's changing."

"It's dangerous, now move!" He ordered.

She moved to stand in front of it. "It's already dying Doctor." She said, as tears started tracking down her face.

He lowered his weapon in hesitant confusion. "What did you do?" He asked, moving cautiously to stand beside her. Once he was close enough to reach her, he hauled her over to him, putting a few beautiful feet between her and the Dalek, but she never looked away. He ran his eyes over her frantically, but couldn't see any injuries.

"Gemma?" He prompted.

"The worst thing you could ever possibly do to a Dalek." She whispered. "I showed it mercy."

"You came for her once before, Doctor." The Dalek stated, and immediately the Doctor had trained his weapon back on it.

"Course I did. I'm the Doctor. She's Gemma Thorn. Apparently it works like that." He replied tersely.

"Will you lose her again?" It asked.

"What do you mean?" The Doctor demanded, looking between her and the Dalek.

"She was the price of your victory once." It said cryptically. "As she was today. Will you consider it worth the price? The nature of her soul is known. What will be the shape of yours?" It asked, slowly starting to back away from them.

When it had reached a distance of fifteen feet or so, it slowly rose into the air, the round explosives on it's outer armor detaching and starting to orbit it.

Realizing what was about to happen, he dragged her to the ground, throwing himself over her. "Mind your eyes!" He shouted as a brilliant light filled the room, followed by a loud boom.

The Dalek was gone, and suddenly Gemma was crying, and the Doctor had no idea what to do.

He'd never seen his wife cry before.

Somewhat uncertainly, he pulled her into his arms, and she buried her head in his chest, as he leaned back into the wall, holding her in silence.

That was how Marci and Owen found them moments later.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

"Time to go!" The Doctor announced, nearly an hour later, walking up behind her as she studied the suit in the display case. "That curly haired demon woman's sealing the who place up tight with cement." Marci was already in the Tardis, and somehow he doubted she'd go on another trip with him anytime soon.

Gemma didn't reply, instead continuing to study the space suit.

"What?" The Doctor asked, coming to stand beside her. She looked at him and glanced away.

"It's just that...nothing. My brain's scrambled. I'm seeing spacemen." She said as they started back to the Tardis.

"What do you mean? He asked, looking at her in concern.

"Well...I could have sworn there were two in that case. Suits, I mean. I saw _two_ suits."

"Well, you were a bit preoccupied." He offered.

"Yeah." She agreed reluctantly, glancing one last time at the case as they walked away.

Hadn't there been two?


	5. Chapter 5

**A?N: And here we go, next chapter of UWL is up. I have a couple of SPN stories that get updated next, and then back to this one. Enjoy, and please review. WHO stories are tricky to write and easy to mess up, so please let me know your thoughts.**

**As Always, **

**EverReader**

**Disclaimer: Seriously not my sandbox.**

**The Unwritten Line – Chapter Five**

"**Let's Play a Game"**

Gemma stood impatiently at the bus stop, nearly vibrating with nerves and excitement, as tourists and window shoppers pushed past and around her. A light rain had brought on the early evening, and everyone was hurrying home.

Except her, of course.

She really had no idea what to expect. One minute they were fighting pirates and counting spaced cubes, and now...

Suddenly, River was beside her, curls bouncing around her head as she smiled wickedly.

"River?" Gemma's eyes flew up in surprise as she hugged her best friend. "You're my contact? "

Gemma could hear sirens in the distance, and blue and red flashing lights danced off the wet pavement as more police cars pulled into the square in front of the National Gallery.

Interesting...

"Hello Ducky." River smiled her signature tongue-in-cheek smile. "I thought it might be you I was meeting. Or Amy, I haven't seen Amy in ages."

Gemma shook her head. "You should go see her and Rory. They miss you. So, I take it you got a little blue card also?"

"Let's play a game..." River said, reading the first line off the post card she pulled from her pocket.

The blue post card.

Tardis Blue.

Gemma held her own card up. "He does like his games, doesn't he? I was in the middle of work, and this shows up. He's obviously been alone too long. Have you seen the Doctor yet?"

River shook her head, curls flying madly in the breeze. "Nope. I'm just following directions. He gave me quite the list. Bit of a work-out though, I have to say." She patted her bag conspiratorially.

The sound of sirens grew louder as Gemma looked her friend up and down. River was dressed in all black, from head to toe, and if Gemma didn't know any better, she'd have said that River looked like a...

Well.

Like a cat burglar.

"River, what did you do?" Gemma asked, eyes widening as she tried to figure out just what the Doctor had gotten them into this time around.

River shook her head nonchalantly. "Don't worry about the details, Gem. Oh, look, here's your bus!"

Sure enough, there was a red, double-decker bus pulling up to the stop, just like her card had said it would.

Bus Twenty-Two.

"Oh, here. This is for you." River said suddenly, shoving her bag into Gemma's arms. Gemma's eyes widened when she realized how heavy the bag was.

"Blimey, River! Didja pack the kitchen sink?" Gemma asked, shifting her position so she could hold the bag more easily as she backed towards the bus. The police appeared to be getting closer now, and River's smile grew larger as she shrugged innocently.

"No, Ducky. It wasn't on the list." She called out, not even pretending to look ashamed.

She really was as bad as the Doctor sometimes.

Gemma could only shake her head in exasperation as the bus's doors closed between them. She watched several police officers descend on River at the same time, but the bus was pulling away now, and she sighed as she walked up the last step into the main aisle.

"Where to, love?" The driver asked after she had swiped her oyster card.

"Just...riding a bit. I'm meeting up with a friend." She said, as she picked her way down the aisle.

"I hope." She added in an undertone as her eyes searched the passengers around her as she passed.

There seemed to be only about a half a dozen other passengers, minding their own business in groups of one or two.

Easing into an empty seat, she carefully lifted the flap to the bag River had given her. Knowing River, there could be anything from explosives to a baby dragon sleeping inside.

There were no explosives, but she did see a winch, a shovel, a hammer, two pairs of sunglasses and several other items, all military quality, if she had to guess.

Oh, yeah.

And a big, gold chalice, encrusted with a handful of jewels.

Looked like River picked up a souvenir at the museum.

"Gemma! Fancy meeting you here? Are you hunting the Rhondium particles too? Oh, here. Have some chocolate..." The voice startled her, though it shouldn't have.

She knew that voice, of course she did, but it had been a long time since she had heard it.

_A long time._

She looked up at the Doctor, in his black leather jacket, with his close-cropped dark hair, and whistled.

"Blimey. I'd forgotten about the ears. You've kept this one in your pocket for a long time then, haven't you? Show off." She said, shaking her head as he sat down beside.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The Doctor's attention was split between the blond woman he had sat next too, and the device he had pulled out of his pocket.

She looked good, no damage that he could see. He hadn't seen her since Utah, which had been several weeks ago by earth standards, though he had no idea where he was in her personal time line at this point. He'd nearly given up on being surprised when she popped up, at least in this particular ere.

He still hadn't quite figured out how she had managed that business with the Rift back in Cardiff, however.

"You know who I am, then?" He asked, flicking the device with his finger. That made things a little easier, he supposed. "The little dish is suppose to spin round..." he muttered mournfully, flicking the dish one last time for good measure.

"Yeah. Though I haven't seen this face in..." She shook her heard. "I don't know. When you asked me to meet you, I didn't think I'd be meeting...well. _You_."

He looked up, distracted by the sirens from behind the bus. Gemma looked around nervously, worrying her lip with her teeth.

"Yeah, well. Easter, you know. It's been ages since I managed to land on Easter. It always moves around, you see. Granted, the first one was a doozie, it-" He was cut off by Gemma's hand on his arm.

"Doctor, the dish!" She said, tilting her head towards the device, where the little satellite dish had indeed starting spinning around.

And around.

And _around_.

"Oh." He said, glancing around at the other passengers to see if anything about them might be causing some kind of disturbance.

They were glancing back at him and Gemma with glances that ranged from mildly amused to somewhat alarmed. The two younger guys up front had stopped jostling each other to shoot leery glances at them, the older blonde woman across from them had stopped talking on her mobile to watch, and the couple across from him and Gemma were now outright staring.

Behind them, the sirens continued to grow louder, and closer.

And the dish was still spinning.

The Doctor stood in the middle of the aisle, facing first one way and then another, trying to lock onto the source of the Rhondium particles, but all he could really tell was that they were getting stronger, faster.

Closer.

"Doctor, what did you say that measured?" Gemma said suddenly, her voice gone a little weak, rubbing her forehead, eyes shutting for a moment as is she had suddenly gotten a headache.

Across the aisle, another woman, sitting beside a man the Doctor presumed was her husband, was doing the same thing, though the other woman had started murmuring.

"So many voices, calling out..." The other women moaned in her musical accent, and the Doctor's eyes widened. He glanced back at Gemma, who was watching him with an expression of mild pain on her face.

She'd gone pale, and now even the Doctor could here a quite buzzing sound in his ears.

"Doctor?"Gemma asked, standing unsteadily as a small alarm on his device began to sound. The Doctor's eyes widened as he realized that could only mean one thing.

"Everyone! Get down, hold on!" The Doctor shouted, lunging back towards Gemma and helping her down to the floor between their seat and the next.

The bus lurched then, hard, first one way and then another, as broken glass rained down and wire's snapped, trailing sparks and smoke.

All around then, the other passengers were screaming, and the Doctor tucked Gemma's head down, under his shoulder as he pulled his jacket over her as far as it would go.

"Mind your eyes!" He shouted, pulling her closer.

And then there was silence.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

"Do you want to play a game..." Gemma muttered sarcastically to herself as she surveyed the planet around them.

Now, to be perfectly honest, she loved traveling, she loved exploring.

New air in her lungs, new ground underneath her feet, a hundred thousand new sights and sounds and people.

She loved traveling, and she loved traveling with the Doctor.

But this.

This planet, it was...wrong. Empty, like a school on holiday, or a graveyard. Empty and full of echos at the same time.

Full of ghosts.

There was nothing to be seen but dunes of sand, glinting harshly in the unforgiving sun. For miles and miles, as far as her eyes could see. The wind was brisk, dry and hot and unrelenting, sucking the moisture from her skin, making her eyes water in defense, and she slipped on the sunglasses from her pack.

The doctor stood beside her, and behind them, the mangled bus slumped in the sand. The passengers, shell shocked and semi-hysterical, stood around, staring in disbelief.

"So." She turned to the Doctor. "That was a...what? A rift? A crack, or a wormhole or something?"

He nodded, curious that she had put it together so quickly. "Yes. It was a wormhole. That's what was causing the overspill of Rhondium particles. Rhondium particles can be used to manipulate wormholes."

"Manipulate? You mean, that was a man-made wormhole? Made by who? There's no one here Where are we even?" She said, gesturing widely at the barren expanse around them. It appeared to be mid-day, the sun was nearly directly overhead, and it had to be at least eighty degrees.

He glanced over. "How's your head?"

"What?" She frowned at him, confused by the change in subject. "My head's fine, I didn't hit my head..." She said, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

He stepped closer, tilting her face up so he could look into her eyes. "On the bus, right before we fell through the wormhole, your head, it started hurting, didn't it?"

She shook her head, biting her lip. "Uh, yeah. Still is, I guess. The buzzing. And the voices. This planet...it's so loud. But I can't make out any of the words. It's like they're everywhere. They're in the wind."

"Low level telepathy...intensified by an alien sun. And you weren't the only one." He started back towards the bus. "This happen to you often?"

"Wormholes?" She asked, following behind him.

"No, the telepathy." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Um...maybe. I think it's more the wormhole, or something. Planets I can do. I've done lots of planets. Never traveled by wormhole before though. I can usually shield it better. Or tune in better. Or something. It's hard to explain. I've had it for a while, I'm used to it by now. This place though...it's like it's nothing but a hundred thousand voices screaming all at once." She said as she climbed up the stairs of the bus behind the Doctor.

"Like every grain of sand has an echo." The Doctor said, phrasing Gemma's own disquieting thoughts perfectly as he crouched down beside the woman who had started murmuring right before they'd fallen through the wormhole.

"What's your name?" He murmured with surprising gentleness as he took her hand in his.

"Mathilde." She replied in a low, frightened voice. Her husband hovered over her her protectively, obviously ready to displace the Doctor if he thought the Doctor was threatening his wife.

"Tell me Mathilde, what can you hear?" The Doctor asked.

"Voices. So many voices all calling out. They're dead, they're all dead." She said, as tears started trickling down her cheeks.

Gemma swallowed down her rising nausea at the woman's words, gooseflesh breaking out along her arms despite the heat.

The Doctor stood, taking a step back from both Gemma and Mathilde. "Mathilde, how many fingers am I holding up?" He asked, holding one of his hands behind his back.

"Three." Mathilde answered without hesitation.

"Four." Gemma corrected without having to be asked, shaking her head as the voices seemed to grow louder. Suddenly, she cried out as pain spiked through her forehead, and she felt the Doctor catch her as her legs started to buckle.

"Hey, okay." The Doctor said, as he sat her down on one of the bus seats. Her entire body seemed to run first cold and then hot. She felt warmth trickle from her nose, and when she checked, her fingers came away bloody.

"Doctor?" She said, as the bus began to spin around her. "What's happening...?"

"Mathilde's only a low level psychic. It'll take a little while for her to get this bad. It's safe to say that you're a little more than low level, though. Your mental shields can't keep up." The Doctor said, as he pointed his sonic at her forehead. "I'm going to see if I can run some interference for you, okay?"

"Like Utopia..." She murmured without meaning to, as the world began to dance around her for a moment.

She could hear the buzz of the Doctor's sonic, and a second later the voices began to fade. They didn't disappear entirely, but the pain did.

"What's that then?" He said, looking into her eyes again, seemingly more satisfied this time. Taking the hankerchief Mathilde handed him, he began to clean the blood off of her face.

"You need a diary..." She murmured, taking a deep breath. "Okay, okay. That's better..."

"Won't last long. I can only disrupt the signal for so long, without the shields of the Tardis. You say you've traveled, but nothing like this has happened before? It could be the alien sun, amplifying your telepathy. And something on this planet wants your attention." The Doctor said, standing again. The other passengers around them moved nervously.

"Well, then we'd better shift, then." She said, standing up beside him. She waited a second to see if her dizziness would return, but it seemed to have vanished for the time being.

"Would someone like to tell the rest of the class, already?" The blonde haired woman said, finally breaking the silence around them. Gemma was actually impressed with how well the group had held up so far, but now, as she looked up, half a dozen pairs of frightened eyes met hers.

"Doctor." She said, knowing they needed to take the situation in hand before things got worse. "They're frightened. It's time to do your hero routine."

"I'm not a hero." He corrected automatically. "Right, you lot. Follow me."

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The Doctor pointed his sonic at the space slightly to the left rear of the bus. Using a pulse of energy, he managed to alter the frequency of light inside the mouth of the wormhole just enough for the eyes of his fellow passengers to detect with their human eyes. Now the wormhole was visible, a watery circle perhaps twenty feet in diameter.

"And that's how we got here? Well, what are we waiting for?" The bus driver cried, lunging towards the wormhole suddenly.

"No!" The Doctor and Gemma cried in unison. Gemma was closer to the driver, and the Doctor barely had time to pull her back before the driver reached the mouth of the wormhole, jumping in without hesitation.

The driver screamed out piercingly as arcs of light shot in all directions. The stench of burning flesh filled the air for a second before it was gone, even the scent destroyed by the sheer, furious heat of the wormhole. For one stark moment, his burnt skeleton was illuminated, backlit by the power of the wormhole, and then even that was gone, nothing but a shadow burned on their retinas.

"We're all going to die." Mathilde whispered in fear as she clung to her husband, and the voices of the others began to rise around them in a panic.

The Doctor continued to hold on to Gemma, watching as she dug her phone out of her pocket.

"Not sure how good reception's going to be on that..." One of the younger passengers, a man in his twenties, said sarcastically.

"It's a long story." Gemma said, never taking her eyes off the wormhole as she dialed a number by memory. "Jack, thank god you picked up. Make my day and tell me you got a little blue card."

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Sergeant Mungumba watched in horror as the burnt skeleton stumbled through what the scientists were calling a wormhole. The body was beyond decimated, barely even recognizable as having once been human prior to encountering the wormhole.

A wormhole that had opened out of the blue in the middle of a traffic tunnel in the heart of London, apparently swallowing a bus in the process.

They were seriously out of their league.

"Ma'am. The representative from ThornCorp is here." Sergeant Mungumba looked up at one of the most handsome faces she had ever seen.

She recognized him from her briefings even before he introduced himself.

"Captain Jack Harkness. I'm here on behalf of ThornCorp. I see you have a bit of a traffic jam on your hands." The man said with an American accent, grinning confidently.

Sergeant Mungumba shook his hand grimly. "It's a bit more than that, I'm afraid. Our sensors say it's growing. Exponentially. I'd better get you to Doctor Malcolm. He's our expert."

Just then, Captain Harkness's mobile began to ring. He glanced at it, eyebrows lowering in concern as he looked from the screen to the wormhole and back again, answering quickly.

"Gem? What?...Tell me you're not over there alone? The Doctor's with you? Thank god. Yeah, I'm here, at the place where the bus came through. A corpse, or what was left of it just fell through. How the hell did you guys make it through alive?"

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

"Jack, hold on. I'm going to put you on speaker." Gemma said, pushing the speaker button and holding the phone out for the Doctor.

"Who's that then?" The Doctor said suspiciously, looking from Gemma's phone to her face and back again.

Gemma shook her head, confused. "It's Jack, Doctor. Captain Jack...oh god." Her eyes widened.

"Please, please tell me you did not send me into this blind, and you haven't even met Jack yet? What about River? Where's your diary?" She demanded.

"Your diary? What are you, a thirteen year old girl?" One of the other guys, a year or two younger than the first, snorted in amusement.

Gemma whipped her head around in irritation. "He's a bloody time traveling alien with two hearts and the next time I see him, I am kicking his arse for this little trick. Wanna play a game my ass!"

The was a stunned silence as the group around them took in her words.

Suddenly, Jack's voice, scratchy and faint, echoed from the phone. "Uh, Gemma, can you kill the Doctor after I've got you guys back in one piece? My guy at this end says the worm hole is getting bigger as we speak."

"Who are you, then, and who's your guy?" The Doctor said, taking the phone from Gemma's hand. She was still shooting daggers at him with her eyes, and he made a point to put a little bit of distance between them.

"Captain Jack Harkness. I'm here representing ThornCorp, since Gemma's a little...unavailable. And the scientist here with me is a Doctor Bernard Malcolm." Jack's voice echoed from the phone, and Gemma could pick up the traces of unease. They had always known the Doctor had met Jack prior to Jack meeting the Doctor, that tended to be how things went in their little group, but they had never when.

The news about Malcolm was good, at least.

Gemma breathed a sigh a relief. "Well, that's good. I've heard of him. The man's supposed to be a genius."

The Doctor snorted. "Well, we'll see about that. Put him on."

A new voice came on, tinny and high with excitement. "My goodness, are you really him? The Doctor? I'm Bernard Malcolm, I'm your biggest fan. I've read all the files-"

"That's great, Bernie, but I've got a problem. We've got a random wormhole in the middle of London spilling Rhondium particles are over London, it's growing, and I'm trapped on the wrong side with nothing but a broke down bus and some very frightened passengers." The Doctor said, cutting off Malcolm's ramblings.

"Play nice..." Gemma warned in a low voice.

"But I still don't get why you're even still alive." Jack broke back in.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, already annoyed with this 'Jack' fellow. "The bus, it shielded us. All that metal encasing us directed the energy away from us as we traveled through the wormhole."

"Like a Faraday cage." Jack said, understanding lighting his voice.

"Yes, sort of." The Doctor agreed reluctantly. "But now the engine is nearly destroyed, the driver is dead, it's buried in sand, and I still have absolutely no idea how the worm hole even came to be, or why it's still growing." The Doctor growled in frustration.

"UNIT is here, as well as a few other members of my team. What do you need from us?" Jack asked.

"Information. Malcolm, I need you to figure out how fast this thing is growing. Then perhaps we can figure out why it's even here in the first place. Gemma and I will work on a way to get the passengers back through." The Doctor said, hanging up abruptly when he saw the low battery warning flash.

"Out of solar system calls drain the battery." Gemma said, taking it back from him apologetically.

"Neat bit of work, that. Assuming I did that?" The Doctor asked, tilting his head towards her phone.

"Spoilers." Gemma said with a lop-sided smile.

"Look, just who put you two in charge?" The blonde woman pushed forward. Though the other passengers were silent, Gemma could see the fear and anger growing on their faces also.

"Look." Gemma said, pushing her hair out of her face again. "This is the Doctor. He was on the bus because he was trying to track the particles, the energy, spilling out from the wormhole. My name's Gemma Thorn, I'm an...associate. The Doctor is the most qualified person here, unless any of you happen to be interstellar travelers and I just hadn't picked up on it yet?"

There was an uneasy silence as the other passengers looked around at each other and then back at them.

"Yeah. Didn't think so." Gemma said wryly, after meeting their eyes.

"Wait a minute." One guys piped up. "Gemma Thorn as in ThornCorp, the chocolate people? What's chocolate have to do with aliens?"

"It's a diverse business." Gemma replied quickly with a blinding smile. "Doctor, you can tell them the plan now."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "What, me? Plan? Oh, yes, yeah. Okay, plan time. You lot are going to get the bus ready to go. Dig out the wheels, get the engine going. Anyone know engines?"

The other young guy slowly raised his arm.

The Doctor gestured at him. "What's your name?"

The young man swallowed. "Uh... Jason. I did a couple semesters of shop and mechanics."

"That'll do." The Doctor nodded. "The rest of you, start getting the wheels unburied. The only way we're making it out through that wormhole again is in that bus, or we'll all end up like the driver."

"With what, our bare hands?" The blond woman asked.

Gemma snapped her fingers. "Oh, wait. I've got this." She knelt, digging around in her pack. "Here you go..."

"Rachel." The blonde woman supplied.

Gemma nodded. "Here you go, Rachel. At least the bloody thing with be lighter now."

She stood, holding out the collapsible shovel River had packed in the bag.

The Doctor raised a brow. "You always carry a shovel with you?" He asked.

She shrugged. "Apparently, it was on the list." She handed him a second pair of shades. "Along with these."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes before putting them on. "Where'd you get the list?"

She shrugged. "I didn't get a list. River got a list. I got an Oyster card. Go figure. Anyway, what are we doing then?"

The Doctor frowned but decided not to pursue the subject while in front of the other passengers, whose fear was finally starting to subside a little now that they had jobs to focus on. They had moved over to the bus, and already Jason had cracked open the hood to start poking around in the engine.

"We're going to head that way, a bit." He gestured towards the dunes in the distance. "See if we can find anything that might be causing this wormhole." He added.

She tilted her head. "So, you still think it's man-made then?"

"Well, it's something-made, that much is for sure. I'd just feel better if we knew what the something was." The Doctor muttered. "You up for a hike?"

Gemma smiled. "You always take me to the best places."

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

"So, Gemma-Gemma Thorn. Got a middle name, then?" The Doctor asked as they hiked up yet another tall sand dune.

He paused as he gave her a moment to catch up.

She was keeping up better than he had expected, truth be told. He'd purposefully set a fast pace, partially because they needed to do their exploring quickly, and partially because he was trying to gauge how well she'd be able to keep up. All his previous scans had shown she was human-at least, almost entirely human.

But there was always something just the tiniest bit off, he could just never put his finger on it.

This was a chance to get a look at her endurance.

She kept the pace easily enough at first, though now she was finally starting to flag. He thought it might be in part due to the heaviness of the bag she was carrying.

"Here, let me take that." He said commandingly, holding out his hand.

She shook her head. "No middle name. Just Gemma Thorn. Oh, I do have a title, though."

The Doctor raised a brow. "Oh, Lady Thorn, is it? Better hand over the bag then, your ladyship. A lady never carries her own bag."

She smiled wryly as she reluctantly handed the bag over. "I'll let you have it for a bit, if it makes you happy. I'll warn you, though. I'm no lady."

His grin widened. "What then?"

She smiled back. "Let's just say I was knighted and exiled on the same day, once."

The Doctor whistled. "Don't do things by half measures, then, do you?"

She shrugged. "Never saw the point."

"Who's 'River'?" He asked.

"She's one of my best friends. You hate her. And you love her." Gemma replied.

"Sounds exhausting." The Doctor replied.

"Never boring, though. It's actually kinda cute." Suddenly, she tensed, ever so slightly.

"We have company." She barely breathed the words as she slowly raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. The Doctor mimicked her stance as he pivoted slowly in the direction she indicated, easing in front of her as he did so.

A suited and helmeted figure stood before them, gesturing with some sort of weapon. A series of clicks and grunts were issuing from the mouth piece of it's suit.

"Can you understand what it's saying?" Gemma whispered, straining to hear.

"A little. You?" The Doctor replied, still angling his body in front of hers.

She shook her head. "I'm trying to, but it's hard. It's like there's too much interference in my head. The words are all muffled."

"Yeah, sorry about that. The same thing that's drowning out the voices you were hearing earlier is stopping the translation software in your head from working properly. A double-edge sword." The Doctor said.

The alien gestured a second time, frustration clearly evident in it's movements.

"Maybe you'd better undo it then, because they are _not_ happy." Gemma whispered as she stepped closer to the Doctor.

He held out a hand, stopping her from coming any closer. "No good. Whatever it is here that you and Mathilde were picking up on, it was strong enough to give you a nosebleed after only a few minutes of exposure. Much longer and it wouldn't be pretty."

The alien stepped forward threateningly, waving it's weapon. "Well, that's pretty universal." Gemma said.

The Doctor closed his hand around hers without thinking about it. "Looks like we going south then."

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

"I've never seen a ship like this." Gemma said wonderingly as the alien ushered them through the halls of it's craft. The ship was large, a transport vessel of some sort, if she had to guess, but the walls were crafted of some metal she'd never encountered before.

"The walls are cold." She said in a hushed voice, her words echoing around them.

"They're Tritovores." The Doctor said, as the alien was joined by a second. They unmasked in unison.

"Oh." Gemma said, taken slightly aback at the aliens countenance. She knew better than to expect aliens to look like humans at this point.

But she'd never seen aliens that were a mix of humanoid and...cockroaches?

"What're they doing?" She whispered, tensing as the lead alien brought forth a small device and aimed it at them.

"Empathetic Translator. It translates our intentions. Helps them know if we're being honest." The Doctor said.

"Doesn't help us much, though, does it." She whispered wryly.

"I'm getting the hang of the language now." The Doctor replied. "It's always harder with languages that don't have vowels.

"Showoff. Out loud, then. _Please_." She said, standing close.

The lead alien spoke, gesturing widely at the ship around them.

"The Twenty-Two will be punished for their transgressions against the Tritovore." The Doctor translated after a moment, with a frown on his face.

"What are we being punished for?" Gemma said, narrowing her eyes in thought.

"They think we caused their ship to crash. But why are they calling us the Twenty-Two? There's only seven of us on the bus." The Doctor said, shaking his head in confusion.

"Um... The bus. It was number Twenty-Two." She said, remembering the directions on the card she'd been given.

"Okay, that makes sense." He directed his next words to the Tritovores. "We didn't cause your ship to crash. We crashed also. Did you come though the wormhole? No?" The Doctor shook his head. "Okay, so why are you here? Where is here?"

The empathetic translator must have been working, because after a moment, the Captain appeared to relax slightly, and his companion lowered his weapon.

The aliens gestured to a virtual screen on what Gemma guessed to be the control console. Gemma and the Doctor stepped closer. Gemma's eyes widened as images began flooding the screen.

"San Helios." Gemma read out loud, having more luck with the written words on the screen than the spoken language of their new alien comrades.

"But I don't understand. How can this be San Helios? The planet shown here is...is green, and blue. There's massive cities, fields, oceans. What happened? Are these photographs...what, ancient? Are they archaeologists or something?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at the Doctor.

"They're traders." The Doctor replied grimly, gesturing towards the bottom of the screen. "According to this, these images aren't a thousand years old. They're one year old."

Gemma swallowed. "Oh, that's not good. That's really...not good. Where'd it all go, then? What can make oceans and forests and cities just...disappear? Some kind of weapon? Radiation?"

The Doctor shook his head. "The Tritovores already scanned for that. All they found were massive amounts of the same Rhondium particles I was tracking when we fell through the wormhole."

"So, where did everything go?" Gemma asked, eyes wide.

The Doctor knelt, looking at the ground.

"Oh, God..." Gemma breathed out, looking around in horror. Even inside the alien craft, sand had managed to creep in. "That's not sand, is it."

"Don't panic." The Doctor said soothingly.

"There is...sand in my shoes. In my hair. I've probably swallowed some. I think I deserve a tiny moment to panic." Gemma said in a tightly controlled voice. "You were right when you said the sand had a voice of it's own. Oh, god..."

"Think of something else." The Doctor ordered, standing and crossing over to put his hands on her shoulders.

"Like, what the bloody hell can incinerate an entire planet in less than a year? Yeah, that's helping tune out the screaming in my head right now." She said, turning away. "God, all those people...They're all dead. Something killed them."

Suddenly, an alarm started blaring, echoing loudly off the metal walls.

"What's that?" Gemma said, forcing herself to focus. They needed to get themselves off this planet, and close that wormhole before whatever ate this planet decimated the next one.

Earth.

"A storm's coming." The Doctor said, looking at the ship's display screen. "A massive one, if the sensors are focusing correctly."

A shudder of unease worked it's way down Gemma's spine. Suddenly, the space inside the ship felt too tight, too constricting. "I want to see."

She said, pushing down the warning growl of Bad Wolf in her head. Bad Wolf didn't rise for no reason, and the pacing in her head was making her anxious.

She pushed past the startled Doctor and went to the breach in the ship's hull. Stepping out into the glare of the sun, she studied the oncoming cloud in the distance. She didn't need Bad Wolf's warning to sense the danger.

"Something about that...it's wrong." She said, looking over her shoulder at the Doctor. "I don't know what, I'm sorry, but it's wrong, Doctor. It's dangerous."

She didn't know a better way to put it. Whatever the Doctor had done to shield her from the dead planet around them had hobbled Bad Wolf pretty effectively for the time being, but she still understood her meaning.

Danger.

The Doctor studied her grimly for a moment before nodding. "Right." He went back into the Tritovore craft.

"Do you have a drone, a mobile sensor we can send into that storm? My friend says it's dangerous, and I believe her. We need to find out what it is." He said, voice brusque, words clipped.

Her phone rang then, and she answered as the Doctor and the Tritovores launched into a flurry of activity readying the Tritovore's probe for flight.

"Hello?" She said.

"Gemma? It's Jason, back at the bus. We have a problem. We got the wheels uncovered, and the engine works now, but..." His voice trailed off, and she closed her eyes in trepidation.

"What is it?" She said, looking up to meet the Doctor's eyes.

"We had to keep starting it, to test the engine. And now we're out of petrol." He replied in a scared voice.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Sergeant Mungumba looked around uneasily. According to Doctor Malcolm, the wormhole was continuing to grow at a nearly exponential rate. They'd had to clear the sky nearly two miles up, and the roads for two miles out.

And god only knew where it was going to stop, because Doctor Malcolm certainly didn't.

"Exciting, isn't?" The voice startled her, and she whipped around to face it's owner. The woman was striking, with sharp cheek bones and a wild halo of of golden brown curls.

"Who are you? How did you get past the barricades?" She demanded, reaching for her sidearm.

"Easily. But never mind that. I'm here to help, and from the looks of things, you need all the help you can get." The woman stated authoritatively.

"I should have you arrested." Mungumba threatened.

"Don't bother. Neither of us has the time for that. Besides, I've an invitation. I'm River Song. Look me up." She grinned.

Mungumba swallowed. She didn't have too. There hadn't been a photo in Professor Song's dossier to memorize, but it wasn't necessary, and she said so. "Not necessary. Everyone in my unit is required to memorize the Valeyard Protocols. Right this way, Professor Song."

"Smashing." The woman's smile made Mungumba nervous.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma leaned over the console, straining to get a closer look at the oncoming storm. The probe had nearly reached the cloud mass. Over her head, the Doctor was leaning closer also, his mind working so quickly she nearly imagined she could hear it.

"It's shining." The Doctor said, the curiosity obvious in his voice.

"No, it's more like...glitter." Gemma said, gooseflesh raising up and down her arms. "What kind of clouds sparkle?"

"Something metallic, has to be." The Doctor said, shaking his head thoughtfully.

"Metal?" She repeated, looking back at the screen.

The probe closed the final distance, and now the clouds were upon it.

Except, they weren't really clouds at all.

"They're alive." Gemma whispered in awe.

"Fantastic..." The Doctor breathed.

The clouds were in fact a swarm. A massive, writhing swarm of flying creatures that resembled nothing so much as stingrays gliding through the sky instead of the ocean. Their bodies glinted in the sunlight, like newly minted coins.

"They're beautiful." The Doctor said.

"Then why am I so scared?" Gemma said softly, reaching out for his hand again.

Suddenly, on screen, one of the creatures dived directly at the probe, and in an instant, the screen had gone dark.

"I take back the question." Gemma said.

"They ate this entire planet." The Doctor said, whirling around, gesturing at the blowing sand. "A whole swarm of them, thousands-"

"Hundreds of thousands..." Gemma corrected, closing her eyes to marshal her breathing. "They destroyed San Helios."

"It's not their fault, not really. Did you see their shape? They move like sharks, all hunger and forward motion. But how does the wormhole fit in?" The Doctor said, turning to face her.

"Why did they shine?" Gemma countered, beginning to remember the familiar cadence of give and take this Doctor had favored. His later incarnations would talk on and on, with or without help, but this Doctor had always needed her as a sounding board.

The Doctor snapped his fingers. "Metal, they're made of metal. On the outside, anyway. Metal scales, like plating. Oh, that's it then. They come through the wormhole, and their metal plating protects them!"

"Like the bus protected us?" Gemma asked, trying to follow the Doctor's lightning quick mind. "But where did the wormhole come from in the first place?"

The Doctor met her eyes. "They made it. The creatures, they created the wormhole."

"Come again?" Gemma asked, shaking her head.

"They made it. They're the source of the Rhondium particles." The Doctor said excitedly.

"But then, how are the flying towards it, and not out of it?" Gemma asked, grabbing the Doctor's arm and slowing his pacing.

The Doctor stilled., and then he snapped his fingers. "Flight. They're flying, fast. Circling the entire planet. Over and over, faster and faster, until their flight path actually creates the wormhole.

"And now they're heading towards earth." Gemma said, eyes widening. "We have to stop them, Doctor. We can't let them go through that wormhole. They'll decimate the entire planet."

"We have to get back through the wormhole, and close it before they get to it." The Doctor said.

"How long do we have?" Gemma asked, mind racing. She needed to warn Jack and River.

"About forty-five minutes." The Doctor said, glancing back at the screen where the probe's last readings were displayed. The Tritovores were watching silently, and she wondered how much of her conversation with the Doctor they were actually following.

"Great." Gemma said, swallowing hard.

"Think, think, think..." The Doctor was muttering again as he resumed his pacing.

"Doctor?" Gemma asked, trying to catch his attention.

"The bus might be strong enough to shield us one more time, but it's out of petrol. No way to drive it."

"Doctor?" Gemma said again.

"Can't push it. We don't have any batteries strong enough..." The Doctor continued without stopping.

"Doctor!" Gemma said, stepping into the path of his furious pacing.

"What?" The Doctor half-shouted, coming to an abrupt halt to avoid plowing Gemma over.

"How did the Tritovores get here?" She said.

The Doctor raised a brow. "Their...ship?" He said slowly, gesturing around them as if he was worried she hadn't picked up on the fact that they were, in fact standing in the midst of the Tritovore vessel.

"I know that!" She nearly growled at him. "I mean, they didn't come through the worm hole, right?"

"No, they say they flew." The Doctor said after a pause in which the Tritovore captain answered her question.

"So why did they crash then?" She asked. "If it wasn't the wormhole, why did they crash?"

"Oh, Gemma Thorn, I like you." The Doctor said.

"Quite right, too." She retorted.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

"Engine trouble, huh?" Gemma said, staring down the shaft at what was apparently the engine of the alien craft.

"That's what they said. They stalled mid flight, barely made it planet-side." The Doctor agreed. "That's how they got the big hole in the side of their ship.

"And that's it, down there? That shiny bit?" She asked. "That's the engine?"

"Crystal matrix. If we can get to it, we can use it to power the bus." The Doctor said, pacing around the edge of the shaft.

"How'd they even get it in there, it's so far down." Gemma wondered.. She guesstimated it was at least twelve stories down.

"The platform it's on is meant to be mobile, to move up and down this shaft like an elevator." The Doctor said.

He looked up. "The fuselage is destroyed, but the one thing this planet isn't lacking is sunlight. I may be able to reroute some of the outer panels to convert solar power into enough energy to raise the platform."

He pointed his sonic at a set of earpieces the Tritovore captain had loaned him. He handed her one and put on the other.

"Stay here, tell me if anything changes." He dashed off, back towards the control room.

Gemma sighed, staring down the shaft. "Yeah. Somehow, I don't think that's why River packed that harness..."

She knelt, pulling out the harness and rig. "Now, how does this work..."

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The Doctor pushed another series of buttons.

"Gemma! What about now?" He said, shouting even though she was wearing an ear piece too.

"Nothing!" She called back. "And it's definitely the crystal thingy, looks a little like the Koh-i-noor?"

"It's the whole bit, the harness and everything. And who let you get your hands on the Koh-i-noor?" He teased. "What about now?"

"Nope." Her answer came through the ear piece he had rigged, as opposed the echoing down the hall, and he frowned.

"Where are you?" He said, poking his head around the doorway. Gemma was nowhere to be seen, and in her place, anchored to one of the supports, was what looked like...

A climbing rig.

"Gemma! NO!" He yelled, whipping out his sonic. He nearly maxed it out trying to slow the cable whipping through the winch at lightning speed.

"Come on, come on, COME ON!" He shouted, not relaxing until the cable finally came to a screeching halt.

"That hurt, you know!" Came Gemma's annoyed voice from over the the earpiece.

"Not as much as the security grid you're about to fall through!" He growled, laying down to look over the edge. He'd barely managed to stop her in time. Using his sonic, he used the same setting he'd used to illuminate the wormhole the make the laser security grid directly below where Gemma hung visible.

"Don't guess there's a big friendly button for this, huh?" Came her breathless response.

The Doctor opened his mouth, then shut it again. "Well, actually..."

"Found it!" Came her response, and the Doctor could have sworn she sounded almost gleeful.

"Big red buttons are my favorite, you know." She said confidingly.

"Why does that not surprise me?" He muttered worriedly.

He watched as she deactivated the grid.

"Slowly!" He warned. "Better yet, come back up and let me do that."

"Not hardly. Besides, I'm over halfway there. Have a little faith, Doctor." She chided.

The Doctor chewed his lip anxiously. Suddenly, a glint from inside her opened knapsack caught his eye. He leaned over, flipping the top of her pack open.

"Gemma, is there any reason you have the Cup of Athelstan in your bag?" He said, a frown drawing his brows together.

There was a pause, and then-

"Is that what that is, then? I wondered..." She said easily, a hint of mischief in her voice.

"Gemma!" He said warningly. "You realize this is worth about eighteen million dollars?"

"I don't actually know, to be honest. I guess it was on the list." She said crossly over the speaker.

"Hell of a list..." He muttered, replacing the cup in the bag.

"I'm here. I've just about got the crystal out." Gemma said.

"Not just the crystal. We need the whole harness!" The Doctor reminded her, standing in excitement.

"The thing it's laying in? It's welded, hold on. I've got my Sonic in my boot..." Her voice trailed off suddenly, and the Doctor froze.

"Gemma? Gemma, what's going on, Gemma? Talk to me!" He demanded.

"Doctor, I think I know why the engines stalled..." She whispered.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

She had just managed to unfasten the last section of the main harness when she saw it. To be more accurate, she'd heard it first, but knowing how badly they needed the matrix, she'd pushed down the fear and kept working.

Then it had moved.

"One of the aliens...it's down here, in the shaft." She whispered. It was beautiful, in a way, and Gemma wished for a camera.

And a gun.

"I'm bringing you back up, right now!" The Doctor practically yelled in her ear.

"NO!" She hissed back. "There's still one more section to unfasten. It's okay, it's dead, or dying or something. It's not moving, it's just lying there."

"It's dormant!" The Doctor exclaimed, "It's the cold! But your body temperature is already waking it up, Gemma, GET UP HERE NOW!"

"Okay, okay. I'm hurrying." She closed her eyes tight for a moment, and then opened them again determinedly. Clenching the sonic in her teeth, she started yanking frantically at the last part of the harness.

The Doctor was right, the creature was wakening, stirring in starts and fits like a shark out of water, but she knew that all too soon...

It would start to fly.

And she'd better be faster.

"Got it!" She cried, as the last part finally came free. She shoved it frantically in her shirt where the harness held it tight against her, jerking frantically back as the creature suddenly surged forward.

"Doctor!" She screamed.

"Hold on, I'm bringing you up!" He yelled back.

She jerked her legs in to her body and the creature slammed first to one side, then the other.

"DOCTOR!" She yelled again,

Her harness jerked then, and suddenly she was flying, up, up, even faster than she had descended, but the creature had gained it's wings, so to speak, and it's gnashing teeth chased her up the shaft.

She pulled her legs in even tighter, whipping her own sonic out just as she flew past the disabled security grid. Using a pulse of energy, she shattered the red button.

And triggered the fail-safe.

The creature spasmed as it was caught in the laser grid, a keening wail issuing from it's throat.

"Gotcha!" She smiled ferally, relaxing her legs to a more natural position as she shot towards the Doctor's outstretched arms.

"And I got you." The Doctor said as his hands wrapped around her shoulders and he yanked her away from the shaft. "Are you okay?"

She smiled shakily. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

He surprised her by pulling her into a hug. "Let's not do that again anytime soon."

"Well, if you insist." She smiled into his leather jacket, giving in to the shakes for the barest second.

She pulled back reluctantly. "I got it. What now?"

"Back to the bus. We're nearly out of time." The Doctor said, grabbing her hand and pulling her into the control room.

She stood to the side for a moment when they got there, rearranging her bag on her shoulders as the Doctor argued with the Tritovores.

"You can't stay here, you'll die!" The Doctor said, waving his arms for emphasis.

The captain responded, but Gemma didn't bother trying to translate, attention caught by something outside the window.

The wind was blowing sand against the hull of the ship, a haunting melody, a foreboding one, like drums in the distance.

Like a memory...

"What are you listening too?" The Doctor said, drawing her closer. "What can you hear?"

She glanced back at him, eyes wide. "Have you ever been haunted?" She whispered.

"Not recently." He replied.

"Lucky you..." She swallowed, wrapping her arms around herself. "We have to go."

"I know. But these guys aren't getting the picture. The captain's insisting he stay with his vessel." The Doctor said, clearly frustrated.

She bit her lip. "Is their translator thing still working?"

He nodded. She stepped forward. "My name is Gemma Thorn. My friend is called the Doctor. He's a traveler, he has his own vessel, and he can get you home. The people of San Helios deserve to be remembered, and that can only happen if you return to your people, and tell their story."

"Come with us!" The Doctor urged again.

It might have worked.

Gemma was going to chime in one last time when a rattle sounded behind her. She jerked around quickly, tensing as she tried to discern the source of the sound.

"What is it?" The Doctor said, drawing closer to her again as he noticed her tension.

"Listen..." She said, barely breathing the word out. The Doctor slanted her a strange look, but she paid him no mind, instead focusing on the rustling she had heard a moment ago.

The others froze, and the Doctor looked around the control room quickly. "I don't think it was just one of those creatures that you hit. I think it was several. The entire hull of this vessel is hollow. They're flying around in the spaces between the walls. We have to move, now!"

He spoke too late, as one of the creatures practically exploded out from behind one of the main control consoles. It moved quickly, no longer disoriented from the cold.

The Tritovore Captain began firing at it with a laser weapon of some sort, but it didn't appear to be having a lot of effect, perhaps due to the creatures metal skin.

"It's not working!" She cried, backing towards the Doctor.

"RUN!" The Doctor yelled, grabbing her hand again and yanking her behind him. He called out to the Tritovores again, but the first mate had attempted to come to the rescue of the Captain, and all that could be seen was a fury of sparks and smoke and liquid, gnashing teeth.

"It's too late for them, Gemma, RUN!" The Doctor cried, pushing her ahead of him. They burst out of the ship into the blinding light of the alien sun. From behind them, the sounds of the lost battle were fading, and their shadows stretched out before them as they raced across the sand.

The Doctor had taken her bag again thankfully, and she was making better time, but the swarm continued to close the gap between it and the bus.

"Those harness things, they'll work, yeah?" She called out as the bus came into sight.

"Let's hope so!" He called back, pulling her with him even faster now, it felt like they were flying across the sand now, and despite the danger, a part of her wanted to laugh.

"Doctor!" She called. "We can't let that swarm get through to earth. Our weapons won't stop them Even if we can't get through, we have to stop that wormhole."

"I know." He replied grimly.

They reached the bus in record time, Gemma gasping for air as she watched the Doctor use his sonic to attach the first part of the harness to the front right axle of the bus.

"We're going to fly out of here, is that it?" She realized. "Can you fly that?" She gestured towards the bus.

"Expect so. It's that sort of day. Can you do the others, I'll start on the steering wheel?" He replied.

She nodded. "Yeah, but Doctor, you have to call Jack and River. Tell Jack to mobilize the UNIT team to be ready, and tell River to help Malcolm. She's a genius, they'll figure out a way to close the wormhole."

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Sergeant Mungumba watched as Doctor Malcolm tore furiously through a stack of papers, looking for yet another equation.

"The Doctor says there has to be a frequency that can disrupt the energy flow powering the wormhole, displace the Rhondium particles, and save the planet. I just...can't...figure it out." He cried distractedly, nearly tearing his own hair out in frustration.

"Forty-Two." A voice said from the door to Malcolm's trailer.

"What? Who are you?" Malcolm said, running a hand through his hair again.

"Professor River Song, at your service, and the problem in your equation is there. Where you've used nine to the power of fifty-seven? It should be forty-two. And what the bloody hell is a Bernard?"

"Yes, YES! I see it know. And a Bernard is equal to one hundred-thousand Malcolms." Malcolm replied, editing his equation on the dry erase board he was using to work on.

"You named a unit of measurement after yourself?" River asked sceptically, one brow raised.

He shrugged. "You're the first person to complain."

She shrugged. "Fair enough." She held up a dry erase marker like she was brandishing a sword. "Let's save the world."

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

The Doctor stared in consternation at the steering console. Gemma had had no problem attaching the other three harness points to the other axles of the bus, but the metal of the main harness point was incompatible to the material of the steering console.

He needed something malleable, something conducive...

"I can not believe I nearly died getting that bloody crystal and you chucked it out into the sand..." Gemma was muttering darkly from just behind him.

"Shut up." He said, "No, wait, give me your bag."

"The only thing left is that cup, Doctor. The very VERY old cup. That we _borrowed_ from the National Gallery." She said warningly.

"And a hammer. I'll be gentle." He promised with a grin.

"I hate you." She said, shaking her head.

"No you don't." He said cheerfully, pulling out the cup.

And the hammer.

"I really hate you." She closed her eyes and turned her face as the sound of manic banging reached her ears.

He really sounded like he was getting a little too into it.

"Tell me you can fix that, yeah?" She said, peaking with one eye.

"I think I improved it." He said cheerfully. "Hold on tight, everyone. Next stop, London."

Gemma leaned forward, wrapping her arms around him from where she stood behind the driver's seat. The bus rose with a sudden lurch.

"I have missed this face, you know." She whispered in his ear.

He looked up at her, startled. "That's not encouraging."

She shrugged. "Spoilers."

"We'd better get going, then." He said, turning the bus towards the wormhole. "Hold tight."

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

"I've got it. I can close the wormhole!" Malcolm cried.

"Then do it." Mungumba ordered.

He looked at her, startled. "But the bus, it's not back yet. The Doctor and the others, they'll be trapped."

She glared back. "I'm tasked with the safety of this planet, Doctor Malcolm. If those creatures make it through, every man, woman and child on this planet is in danger. Now, do as you are told-" Her words cut off suddenly as she slumped to the ground. Behind her, River arched an unapologetic brow.

"I hate when people say that." She said. She pulled a weapon Malcolm didn't recognize out of pocket.

"We'll buy you time, but be ready." She ordered, looking him squarely in the eye.

He nodded determinedly. "Absolutely."

She ducked out of the trailer, jogging over to where Jack and the others had already started arming themselves.

"Ready or not..." She warned with a smile. Around them, the soldiers were exchanging uneasy glances, but Jack's grin only widened.

"We really should get together more." He said.

The first alien flew out of the tunnel, and they opened fire.

**Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf Bad Wolf**

Gemma did her best to hold herself steady with one hand and dial Malcolm's phone with the other.

"We're through the wormhole, close the bloody thing already!...What do you mean it's not working! Hold on, I'll conference in River!" She pulled the phone away, dialing another set of numbers.

"Hello? Genius sitting right here!" The Doctor pointed out, slightly piqued as he did his best to maneuver around various buildings and the handful of creatures that had made it through with them.

"Drive the bus, Genius!" She called, nearly losing the bus when the Doctor banked the bus hard to the right.

"Steady!" The Doctor called. Below them, the city lights sparkled in the night like a handful of scattered diamonds.

"River, you're conferenced in with Malcolm, the wormhole's not closing." Gemma called, bracing her feet as best she could, putting the phone on speaker.

"Increase the energy output by ten Bernards, repeat, and then loop it back again." River instructed.

"What the hell is a Bernard!" The Doctor said, frowning over his shoulder.

"WATCH WHERE YOU"RE GOING!" Gemma yelled, as they banked a hard right this time. "It's always Big Ben..." She muttered darkly.

"It's working!" Malcolm cried, and suddenly the line went dead. Gemma looked at the phone in surprise.

"I think he hung up on us. Bit rude." She said, as the Doctor circled the bus round lower, towards a bevy of parked military vehicles.

"Give him a raise." The Doctor advised.

"He doesn't work for me." She replied.

"He should." The Doctor stated. "Everyone, brace yourselves!"

"I think you're right." She murmured, tightening her hold as the bus shuddered to a stop.

All around them, the soldiers and passengers burst into applause.

She grinned at him. "We just flew a bus."

"Told ya, it's that kinda day." He replied with a wide grin. "You and I are quite a team, Gemma-Gemma Thorn."

"It wasn't just us. It was Jack and River and Doctor Malcolm, too." Gemma said.

She stared into his face for a moment, as the eager passengers pushed past them, excited to be back at home. Military personnel had already circled the bus, leading the passengers away for debriefing.

"Where'd you park her, then?" Gemma asked, when it was their turn to disembark.

"The palace gardens." He replied.

"Oh." Gemma said, brows raised. "She doesn't mind, then, I take it."

"We go way back." He assured her.

"I know." Gemma winked.

The Doctor frowned as two people, a man and a woman strode towards them. The woman bore a halo of copper curls around her head like a crown, and the man smiled as if he'd just won the lottery-twice.

They weren't garbed as soldiers, but everything about them, from the way they moved to the weapons they held, screamed 'soldier' and he tensed.

Gemma had no such compulsion, however, throwing herself first into the arms of the woman, then the man. They hugged like friends or family, like they meant it, like they'd done it a hundred times before and were scared to death they'd never do it again.

"Gemma! Doctor!" The two cried out in unison. The Doctor didn't fail to note the slightly deferential way the soldiers around them were treating them. It wasn't the first time he'd worked with UNIT, but it was the first time he'd seen Gemma or her friends, yet they acted with the ease of long time authority.

"River, Jack, how goes it?" Gemma said, as she stepped out of the man's arms, and the Doctor frowned, because now he was able to focus solely on the man for a moment.

And something about him was wrong.

Very, very wrong. Screamingly, glaringly, hurt-to-look-at _wrong_.

"The last one just went down." The man said. He turned to the Doctor.

"Been a while, old man!" He said, stepping forward as if to hug the Doctor, but the Doctor stepped back quickly, and the other three froze.

"Doctor?" The curly haired woman questioned. "You alright there, sweetie?"

"Fantastic. Who are you?" The Doctor said, glancing over at her for only a second, then returning his frowning gaze to the man.

"Correction. What the hell are you? You're wrong. You're very, very wrong." The Doctor stated, shifting anxiously. Beside him, Gemma had frozen, not even breathing for a moment.

"I'd forgotten how rude this one is!" The curly haired woman growled, narrowing her eyes at the Doctor while the man remained silent, a pained expression flitting across his handsome features.

"Please to meet you too." The Doctor shot back with a growl, still staring at Jack.

Gemma was eying them worriedly. "Doctor, this is Captain Jack Harkness. You spoke with him on the phone. He's a very good friend of mine. And this is Professor River Song."

"You're wrong." The Doctor repeated, ignoring Gemma completely.

Jack finally spoke. "Yes, I know. You've told me. Repeatedly."

"What the hell happened to you?" The Doctor demanded.

The other three went silent, the heavy kind of silence which says a hundred things and nothing all at once.

"Let's go, Jack. Gemma...sort this out." Professor Song finally said, shooting one last glare in the Doctor's direction before taking Jack's hand and leading him off.

"Jack, River..." Gemma's voice trailed off, and she closed her eyes. "I'll see you back at home...sometime."

The other two strode off, and Gemma turned to the Doctor, eyes blazing as she smacked his shoulder. "You just had to ruin it, didn't you? The last time I'll ever see you, and you just had to go and ruin it!"

She started to turn and walk off, but the Doctor grabbed her arm. "What do you mean?"

"They're your family, they're _our_ family! They came because you asked!" She cried out angrily. "And that man, Jack? He'd die for you. Wouldn't even hesitate."

"I doubt that. That's the problem. How is he even possible? What happened to him?" The Doctor demanded, still thoroughly unsettled by the encounter.

"_I did_." Gemma hissed. "I did, Doctor. I tried to save him, and...I messed up. I messed _him_ up and he will live with it for every day for the rest of his very, very long life. You're not even supposed to know about it yet, and I'm so angry I don't even give a damn right now."

"If you're angry enough to talk, how about you tell me what you meant when you said this was the last time we see each other?" He said, switching subjects quickly.

His mind was abuzz with what she had said and what she could have possibly meant, but the other thing she had said had finally broke through his horror at the abomination that was Jack Harkness, and he pushed aside his disquiet to focus on what else she had said.

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up. Of course we see each other again. I'm probably going to trip over you when I get back to my place. I meant your...face. _This face_. This regeneration. This is the last time I see you...like this. You'll see me. You'll see lots more of me. But I'll never see this face again. And you were so fantastic, and then you just...ruined it. I owe Jack and River so much, Doctor. And so do you."

"It hurts to look at him." The Doctor said, a pained expression on his face.

"Not as much as it hurt him for you to act that way. Who do you think protects this world when you can't? Jack does. When everyone else is gone, Jack is who is left. And one of his best friends just looked right through him like...like you couldn't even see him, Doctor. Like he was a _thing_." Gemma wiped away angry tears. "God, I hate crying."

The Doctor shifted. "I don't know him, Gemma. I barely know you."

She looked at him, sighing. "You will. There will come a time, lots of times, that Jack is the one who stands between us and the darkness. You think about that, you just listen, and you think about that. And when you see him again, you do it _better_, do you understand? You BE better than this. Because you two need each other."

She started backing away. "You really were fantastic, Doctor. But you better be ready. Things are about to get complicated."


End file.
